The League of the Extraordinary
by Hatheny Lurey Dralaw
Summary: When past and future; two different worlds collid . . . what will be the consequences? Can the fresh blood of the New League meet the standards of the Old? Or will everything melt away, just as the Evil predicted? DISCONTINUED.
1. Foreword

**Disclaimer:** Dude, you know the drill by now. I do not own the League, I only own what is mine, and trust me, that's not a lot. This disclaimer, by the way, shall count towards the entire fic's disclaimers, because I think that the disclaimer at the start of a chapter kind of breaks the rhythm of the story. So . . . yeah. There's my two cents. Read, enjoy, and review, in that order. Happy camping, loves.

**Foreword:**

They buried Quartermain in Africa and continued their vague journey twenty-thousand leagues under the sea. Denying the Queen's invitation to become an actual League had not been particularly difficult task, as many of them had no ties to the English Empire.

Tom Sawyer, for one, although desperate for adventure, was American, and his first priority was to the American Government and to the President. Captain Nemo was quite sure that the good Queen didn't even know he was Indian. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were granted asylum by England but disappeared shortly thereafter. Rumours naturally arose concerning his whereabouts; however such speculation is generally considered unreliable and therefore shall not be mentioned.

Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker, although enjoying the privacy and grandeur of the Nautilus, felt the companionship of men and only men rather stifling, and disappeared from Nemo's Lady when they hit the banks of Missisouri. The note she left to Tom described her wish to seek out new blood.

I would say that Rodney Skinner vanished completely and was never seen again, but that seems rather clichéd. Let it simply be recorded as "Rodney Skinner was never heard of again", after the League had buried Alan. No doubt he's somewhere close by. He is, and I quote, a sly little bastard.

These events describe the disbanding of the League of the Extraordinary Gentleman. It is a rather unfortunate incident, but nonetheless inevitable. Although bound by memories and by the death of Allan Quartermain, it was all that bound them. All that those memories gave them were pain, and it is one's second nature to avoid and to shy away from pain and try to find happiness, such as a delicate flower bending towards light.

Thus, the League disbanded.

Yet, I am confused as to how this proves that they were completely estranged from each other. After all, the League made front page news in England. Soon, word spread across Europe and eventually across other continents about these extraordinary people. Could these people actually exist, the public asked each other. Yet as the pressure mounted for the 'super heroes' to show face, the ex-League members saw, nor heard anything of it.

In my understanding, the future is merely the past that has not happened yet. But what is the past, then? Is it just a memory of the hours gone by? There is no useful purpose to this speculation. Instead, I would like to welcome you.

I would like to welcome you to the League of the Extraordinary.

Have a nice trip.

**End Foreword.**

Note: This ties in with the movie novelization and the movie. Therefore the facts might differentiate between two worlds. Personally, I think the novel is slightly better than the movie. I tried to find the comic, but Other Realms in Cork doesn't stock it anymore and I have nooooooo money . . .

Anyway . . .

This is incredibly clichéd, but . . . REVIEW! Seriously. I need reviews to boost my moral and to provide inspiration to write more. So review. I don't care if it's just to say 'hi, nice chappie', I want to know what you think.

So click the damn button. It's not rocket science, loves. God I need some coke . . .

Xx Hatheny


	2. Tempus Fugit

**The League of the Extraordinary: Chapter One**

**Tempus Fugit**

Where to begin?

The past, perhaps, leading up to the future?

Very well.

The day dawned brightly across the sky, penetrating the dark indigo of night. The members of the League, not yet disbanded, woke scattered in their various rooms to the morning bell. It was twelve weeks after the death of Allan Quartermain. None of them had set foot on land since. In fact, none of them had spoken barely a word to each other, save for the infrequent meetings at meal time. The only one who kept up, as he put it, 'the chit-chat' was Tom Sawyer, but most members simply shrugged it off to his American blood. Tom didn't think that was very funny.

All but the Captain supposed that they were simply touring the ocean, but Nemo's insatiable thirst for knowledge was never wasted on such a thing as aimless 'wandering.' He had, in fact, steadily been setting a course for the Bermuda Triangle.

The time in-between the morning bell and his revealing of their course to the fellow members is rather dull, so we shall fast forward ever so slightly.

"Hell's Bells!" exclaimed Tom. "You gotta be kiddin' me!" Mina straightened her back. "I'll have to agree with Mister Sawyer, Captain." Her smooth voice kept an even tone. "Ships go in, but they don't come out." Nemo raised his head in defence for his Lady. "Mrs. Harker," he replied in his powerful accent. "The Nautilus is no ship. She is the Sword of the Ocean. I need not have to remind you of that."

"That may be all well and good, sir," interjected Doctor Jekyll, gripping his pocket watch in an effort to still his hands. "But as sceptical as I am about the reportedly 'mystical forces' that have steeped the rumours, it is still unknown, uncharted territory! I must absolutely insist that we turn around." Having said his part, the pocket watch slipped back intoits striped pouch. "Skinner? What say you?" Mina looked directly beside her, into thin air. "Well, everyone knows I'm all for sherry and giggles," the air replied in a cockney accent. "I say, bring on the fun! It's not as if we haven't been doin' much else anyway, lads."

Nemo's chair scooted backwards and he stood. "Very well. Two League members for, two against. Tom Sawyer? What say you, lad?" Tom's face split into a huge grin. "Hell's Bells, that's what I say. What the Hell, that's what I say! Skinner's right, we ain't been doin' much anyways. I say, bring on the fun!" Nemo smiled. "Excellent. For we are already here." Sawyer blanched along with the other League members. One assumes that Skinner blanched as well.

"Oh. Wha'!"

Mina calmly pushed her chair back and walked towards the small, round window. The water was foggy and appeared to be rough. "Captain," she pronounced in her best 'woman's' voice. "Why is it you felt no particular obligation to inform us of our course until now?"

Nemo was a grand man; a man with dignity and resolve. But at that moment, all he felt like saying, in the most petulant voice an adult may possibly ever muster, was: _"Well, it's **my** ship!"_

Luckily for all concerned, Nemo was a grand man; a man with dignity and resolve. He _resolved_ that Mrs. Harker would from now on be the last to know about anything that concerned their course. His _dignity_ helped him bite down his annoyance. Before anyone could continue though, something massive rammed up against the side of the Nautilus.

Chairs toppled to the ground along with occupants, expensive works of art fell to their doom and throughout the Sword of the Ocean cries of pain and fright rang forth.

"What the Hell –"

"What the _bloody_ Hell –"

"My God!"

"Nemo!"

"Stay calm!" Bellowed the Captain, gripping the edge of the table. "First Mate: Status!" _"Large, unidentified object, off the_ _port side! Minimal damage occurred! Permission to deploy attachment claws!"_ "No!" shouted Nemo. "For all we know this is the creatures own territory, and we are the invaders! Deploy defence mechanisms, and try to get a clear description of our adversary! But do not attack!" The captain turned his head to Sawyer. "Is this adventure enough for you, lad?" The American's eyes were wide and his face was flushed. He didn't answer; instead his gaze was averted over Nemo's shoulder. The Captain turned his head to the great glass windows.

"Great Kali . . ."

_"Identification! Captain! It appears to be a . . . well, a large, underwater ship. Similar to the Nautilus."_ Nemo's breath was heavy. _"Sir . . . it **is** the Nautilus!"_

Great Kali . . . it was impossible. _It was impossible . . . **how!**_

"Sir!" The first mate stumbled into the room. Nemo's head did not turn. "Captain, we've received a message from the rogue vessel." Nemo held out a hand, but did not take his eyes from the windows. Only when the slip of paper was pressed into his hand did he turn his head. The paper read:

_This is Mina Harker from the Nautilus Five. Identify yourself!_

Confusion overwhelmed the Captain. "Nemo?" Sawyer put his hand on the captain's shoulder. "What does it say?" Nemo crumbled the paper. "First Mate . . ."

"Yes sir?"

"Send out another message. _This is Captain Nemo of THE Nautilus. Identify yourself, impostor!"_

"Y – Yes sir."

"Impostor?" Tom frowned. "Nemo, what's goin' on?" Nemo looked away. "I'm not sure, Mr. Sawyer. But I intend to find out."

"Sir! New Message!"

"Read it out!"

"_Surface immediately! We shall sort this out one way or another, 'Captain!'"_

Nemo gritted his teeth. "Yes, we shall. First Mate, we shall surface immediately!" No sooner were the words out of his mouth than they began to rise. The hull broke through the choppy water and pierced the air like a pale harpoon. The League members made their way hurriedly to the top of the Nautilus just in time to see a twin ship break through the water. It was identical to the Nautilus. All were silent. Then they caught a glimpse of a figure, most likely female, opening a door to the second Nautilus and standing on the very deck they were on. She hailed them.

"Who are you!" shouted Nemo. "Who are _you!"_ replied the figure, leaning over the deck.

Sawyer frowned. "Mrs. Harker, that's weird. She sounds just like you." The figure climbed to the railing and balanced for a moment before taking an almighty leap towards the Nautilus. The League members gasped, but she made the leap easily, landing on the railing right before them. They backed away a few steps as the new figure gained her balance. She lifted her head and once more the League members gasped as one. "Who . . . are you?" questioned Nemo, his voice hoarse.

The woman flicked back wavy auburn hair and frowned. Mina was in shock, her hand over her heart. Tom's own hand found its way to her arm,in effortreassure her.

"I _told_ you." She replied, jumping the short distance from the railing the deck. "My name is Mina Harker, from the Nautilus Five. Now, identify yourselves!"

But no-one spoke. And no-one could speak for quite a while.

**A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A **

Okie-dokie, then! Thanks for the reviews! And sorry for the wait, but I've been sick for the past few days. I feel like a train wreck . . . it's all I can do to just press the buttons on the keyboard hard enough . . . no, seriously. Seriously. My head feels like it's about to lift off of my shoulders . . . ugh . . .

Anyway, it's thankee time!

**To Firecat1991:** Look, I updated! Thanx for saying cool . . .

**To Riserugu:** I think it's pretty much clear by now to you just how much I love you. What do you want your powers to be? Yes, that's right . . . I was serious about the superhero thing. What do you want your powers to be!

**To Ehh . . . I don't have a login name:** Well that's okay, honey. Nobody's perfect. Making any heart swell is a wonderful thing, Russian or American. But seeing as I'm American/Irish, it's kinda cool either way! So, yeah. It's wonderful consolation. Thanks for reviewing!

**To Sawyer Fan:** I like. Your name. I _like._ Your _name._ Who's else loves this babe's name! C'mon! In answer to your questions, about Allan _and _the New League . . . Mwha. Haha. Haha. Haha. Excuse me for a moment. I can't seem to stop laughing in an evil manner . . .

**To Queerquail:** Your name seems oddly familiar to me . . . or maybe I'm thinking about something else . . . I don't know . . . I'm very tired. Thanks for your review! I'm glad you noticed my Skinner snippet! Yeah, yeah, moral . . . leave me alone. :p

Thanks to everyone for their reviews, and I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please click on the review button and tell me what you thought! Nothing _too_ mean, though. I am suffering from the flu and whatnot. Take pity! Send me chocolate! And yeah, whatever.

I gotta lie down now . . .


	3. Set the Pace

**The League of the Extraordinary: Chapter Two**

**Set the Pace**

"How can you . . . be me . . ?"

Was it altogether surprising that Mina was the first to break the silence? The second Mina's eyebrows rose with elegant surprise, and she strode forward, raising a hand. And with that hand, she poked our Mina, very firmly, in the forehead.

"I beg your pardon!"

Both took a few steps back. "This . . . this is impossible . . . I thought you must be phantoms . . . or at best, impostors, but no, you're real! How is this possible? This is the Nautilus from roughly a century ago! And you are the old League!" The newcomer pressed a gloved hand to her forehead and held a hand out for the railing. Tom, ever the chivalrous, stepped to her side in concern. After all, she did look just like Mina.

"I do beg your pardon, once again," Mina stepped forward, averting the attention. "But what do you mean, 'the old League?'"

Mina 2nd looked up at the members, her expression shifting in a moment from complete bewilderment to acute curiosity. "Pray do tell me . . . what is the date, 'Mrs. Harker?'" Mina 1st looked back at the League members, who simply looked as stumped as she. "The year is . . . 1900?" she offered. Her reflection shook her head, bemused.

"No . . . 2005."

A shocked silence rang out across the deck. Mouths hung open in perplexity and none could seem to utter a word. Tom looked stumped _and_ cute, which is a far greater feat than any of us shall ever understand. Nemo broke the silence in a rather gentle manner, fearing slightly that they had come across a rather stupid and confused doppelganger.

"I am afraid, madam, that you must be rather confused –"

"No," interjected the not-so-stupid, much less confused than everyone else, and most certainly not a doppelganger . . . person. "I'm afraid you must be confused, because you are supposed to be dead."

Again there was a shocked silence. Again, the shocked silence had a cute, American tag-along.

"W –What are you talking about?" stuttered doctor Jekyll, the pocket watch flipping anxiously. Mina 2nd shook her head, the auburn locks swinging slightly. "The year is 2005. The New League has been sent to investigate paranormal activities that have occurred near and in the Bermuda Triangle. The reports show indications of some kind of . . . irregular . . . warp, I believe was the term they used. We supposed it was nothing." "Fascinating . . ." breathed Nemo. "A time warp, perhaps? Such things have only been heard of in urban myths, and those stories are themselves warped!" The woman grimaced. "Ugh . . . that would be clichéd . . ." Nemo dark eyebrows rose. "What are you talking about!" he exclaimed. "Such things have never been heard of!" Again the red-y brown hair shook at him. "Perhaps in 1900 . . . not in 2005. I don't suppose you've ever heard of Christopher Lloyd? No? I suppose not . . . that must have been after your time . . ."

The pocket watch snapped shut. "Madam, stop with this nonsense!" cried Doctor Jekyll. "We are all aware of the proper date, and it is most certainly _not_ . . . 2005! The idea is preposterous!"

Mina 2nd whipped out a tiny, rectangular box, holding it out at arms length. The League froze and held their breath. "What –" began Tom . . . but he never got far enough to finish the sentence. She pressed a button, and a little screen on the mysterious navy box lit up. And from the box, an eerie tune played forth . . . it sounded like . . .

Tom's face split into an excited grin. "Hey! That's Yankee Doodle! Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a pony –"

"Blast."

"Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni!"

"Blast! Tom messed up my ring tone again!" The now peeved doppelganger furiously pressed a sequence of buttons which eventually stilled Yankee Doodle. Which was a pity, in its own way. Tom was just getting into the swing of things. The Tom in question looked at her, surprised. "Ah messed with your what?" The navy box slipped into her pocket. "No, no, not you, my son, Tom . . . ugh, and I had just spend _hours_ trying to find that Angel polyphonic . . ."

"You named your son Tom?"

"Yes, after you . . . it's rather complicated . . ."

"Why after me?"

"Well . . . I said it was complicated."

Nemo stepped forward, and the League stood behind him. "Madam, please explain." His tone brooked no argument. She sighed and lifted her head to the sky. "Obviously, gentlemen and lady, there is a huge misunderstanding. But I do know which year I'm from. And I do know what year _you're_ from." She crossed her arms. "And that is that," she finished. "Perhaps . . . perhaps if you'll join me on my ship, I can explain things better. Prove to you that I _am_ from the future." Nemo inclined his head slightly in respect. "My dear, it would be an absolute honour. If you may just answer one, small, last question."

"Of course."

"You are from the future. I term that as a statement. We are from the past. That too is a statement." He paused, searching for the right words.

"Yes . . ." she encouraged. The Captain nodded. "Very well. I must ask for trust and knowledge."

"Trust and . . . knowledge."

"Trust that this is in fact an incredible phenomenon and not some shoddy, heartbreaking sham, and knowledge. You are from the future. It abundantly obvious that your technology and advancements must be incredible."

"And ah'd sure like t'know what happened t'us." Interjected Tom. The other League members nodded. Mina 2nd inhaled the sea air deeply. "I . . . cannot guarantee the knowledge. It depends on how much the Captain of the Nautilus Five is willing to show you. But I will, if you insist, tell you as much as I can about your pasts . . . or, perhaps, your future. Now . . . tea?"

"Splendid."

**AAAAAAAAA**

The interior at first was very much the same as to what the original League were familiar with. Steadily though, as they walked on, they began to notice distinct differences. The temperature and pressure dials were unmoving; in fact, they were glazed over, as though they had ceased to operate a long time ago. The Nautilus Five used other operational means. Namely things a little more up-to-date. Nemo asked about this and their guide merely answered, "You'll see when you get to the Bridge."

They made their way through doors Nemo knew well, but each room was different than to what he remembered. How much of his Lady had been changed over the years? "How . . . _much_ has been . . . renovated? Ms. . . ?" Mina 2nd raised her eyebrows and continued walking. "It's been over a century, Captain," she answered. "The Nautilus has gone through many changes. In the late nineteen-fifties, the captain of that ship made a complete overhaul of the Nautilus. Your Lady is now known as Nautilus Prime. The Nautilus today is the Nautilus Five. Although there have been rumours of Commander Shah thinking about another interior reconstruction . . ." Nemo began walking beside her.

"Commander . . . Shah. And he is . . . the _current_ captain of the Nautilus?"

"Yes. I'm sorry," she apologised. "I know this must be very confusing for you – for all of you. But I'll explain in just a – _god!_ Ellen!"

The League jumped with her. Mina 1st looked over Tom's shoulder with curiosity. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary . . . wait. She pushed her way forward in time to see Mina 2nd tapping her foot in irritation at the sheepish top half of a head that was poking through the solid floor. Her heart froze.

Mina 2nd looked back and saw the expressions of shock on the faces of the old League. She pursed her lips and looked back at the head which was now pushing itself up from the floor, making a neck, then shoulders, a torso . . . then an entire body glided up through the floor. Like . . . a ghost. "Ellen . . ." Her disapproving tone made the young girl blush. "I'm sorry . . ." she apologised. Mina 2nd shook her head in frustration. "Ellen, I've warned you about ghosting while Nautilus Five is operational. You can't fully control it, and you'll probably end up stuck through a door or a wall or something." The young girl, now known as Ellen, nodded her head fiercely. "Yes, I know, I'm sorry Agent," she repeated. "But I _am _getting better –"

"Excuse me."

Both looked over, and Ellen gasped. "Agent! She looks just like you!" Mina 1st looked questioningly with raised eyebrows at Mina 2nd.

"Agent . . ?"

Mina 2nd waved a hand, dismissing it. "Yes," she explained. "That's what I'm called now. The government insisted upon giving us silly code names; they've been no end a source of entertainment for us all." Mina nodded slowly. "I see. Code names." Agent shrugged her shoulders; an action that somehow looked completely out of place on her. "Yes. And lady and gentlemen – I'd like you to meet Ms. Ellen O'Connor, our Little Ghost Girl. She has the extraordinary ability of invisibility and of intangibility."

The grease paint on Skinner's forehead creased upwards as his invisible eyebrows rose sharply. "But . . . we can see her now." Agent acknowledged the comment with a nod. "Yes . . . but as I mentioned earlier, it has been over a century. The serum has been modified. Ellen, on the other hand . . . well, she's a little more complicated than a simple prick with a needle; hey presto, you're invisible. But the middle of the hallway is no place to divulge the wonder that is Ms. O'Connor." Ms. O'Connor blushed. "I'm no wonder . . ." she muttered as Agent steered them all down through the hallway. "I'm barely thirteen . . . not even . . ."

"You're our mechanical wonder, Ellie!" A new man fell into step with them now. "Oi, Bloody. These new recruits?" Jekyll was nearest to the man, and so got the clearest glimpses. He was by no means tall, but neither was he short. He seemed to be one of those odd sorts of fellows, one that was either highly attractive or completely dreadful to the eye, which didn't make much sense on hindsight but it made sense at the time. He had short brown hair that might have been curly if only given the chance and a rugged outer appearance. A long brown, beaten leather trench coat billowed out in his wake. Worn yet twinkling blue eyes caught Jekyll staring at him. The right eye winked. "See anything' you like, hon?"

"Jeffrey, stop that. And don't call me Bloody." Interrupted Agent, before Jeffrey could turn Jekyll's spluttering into something worse. "And lastly, _no,_ they're _not_ new recruits. They're the League from 1900."

"Blimey!"

"That's what I thought. Old League, I'd like you to meet Jeffrey Goodson; a.k.a. The Immortal Corpse." She tossed a strand of dark hair over her shoulder. "Make up your own minds."

Reaching the end of the wide corridor, she flung open ornate double doors that Nemo did not recognise and led the way into the Bridge. There were only a few people in the room, these of whom Agent quickly ushered out. Nemo took a moment to take in the features of the large room. The flooring had amazingly remained the same, but almost all the equipment he was used to had been replaced in favour of three wide counters that made a broken semi-circle around them. These were thin and had prongs sticking up from each further corner, as well as levers and buttons coating the surface of the tablets which looked very confusing. It looked alien and wrong and Captain Nemo did not like it.

A glimpse behind showed that the back of the room had been elevated a level higher than the rest and this had a counter surrounding it, much like the balcony of an opera theatre. Just completely bereft of the tradition and elegance. Well, not quite elegance . . . in its own way, there was a certain fashion and attractiveness about the Nautilus Five. It was new; Nemo generally liked new. It was just . . . a bit of a shock. To see his Lady like this. Just a bit of a shock, that's all. A brown head poked up from the elevated control panel. "Agent, what in the devil's name are you doing? Who are these people?"

Agent smiled a grim smile. "Ah, Nasheem. Captain Nemo, I think you'll be interested to meet this young man. Commander Shah, I'd like you to meet Captain Nemo of Nautilus Prime. And vice versa. My, this is getting lengthy . . ." The tall Indian boy of about nineteen or twenty straightened up and glanced suspiciously over the League members. "Agent Bloodlust, this isn't bloody April Fool's and it's nowhere near my birthday. So cut the crap and tell me just what the hell is going on." Agent sighed.

"The thing is," she began in a very patient voice. Captain Nemo watched the exchange with an interest, noticing that both were treating the other with an aura of cool regard. Obviously neither was very fond of each other. Tom was busy noticing an attractive young blonde thing that had sidled up behind them and watch watching everyone with clear interest. He smiled at her. She raised an eyebrow. He turned away. It was a very sudden sort of exchange.

"That we have somehow collided into the Nautilus Prime. These people are the ancestors of the League." Tom turned around just in time to catch the end of Mina's debrief and also just in time to miss the silent, cat-like entrance of another boy who possessed a face and stature that eerily echoed his own . . .

"So you're telling me that . . . this is the Old League." Commander Shah crossed his arms. Agent nodded. "Does that mean we've crossed into some kind of parallel dimension?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't you know?" he snapped. "All of a sudden you march into my Control Room with a bunch of historic wannabes . . . they could be anyone! Remember when Black Night posed as Tom? Or the Fantom II and his mind control? You can't bring just anyone onboard the Nautilus Five! It contains top-notch equipment every country in the world and possibly outside the world has been vying for!"

"I am aware –"

"What about when Annabelle Finn stole my convertible? I spent two years on that car and I never saw it again! That was not a fun time, Mina!" There was a barely audible gasp and then a tense hush. You could tell Agent was trying not to ground her teeth – too loudly, anyway. Her face had hardened considerably. "Nobody's called her Mina since –" Jeffrey cut off Ellen. "Shush! I know."

"Commander Shah . . . I'll give you two seconds . . ."

"I apologise, Agent. I was out of line." The Commander swallowed his pride with difficulty. He turned to the Old League. "And I apologise to you, as well. If Agent Bloodlust sees fit to bring you onboard, then I should trust her judgement." The Tom look-alike behind them all suppressed a snicker. Everyone turned around, and then they blinked. "Hell's Bells . . ." exclaimed Tom softly. Agent pushed her way through the crowd.

"Excuse me – please. Thank you. Old League, please meet Thomas, 'Tom' Harker, alias Revamp. This is my son. And I think that's nearly all the Members. No, wait. Where's Jekyll? Oh, never mind. And – oh yes. I think you all be pleased to meet this young lady." She beckoned to the blonde young woman Tom had smiled to earlier. Now she was smiling as she took her place beside Agent. She cleared her throat.

"Well, League," she said in a voice that sounded oddly familiar – but feminine. "It's been a long time, hasn't it? Over a century. I never did get a chance to thank you for returning me to Africa." "What?" Jekyll looked confused, as did the other old members. "Are we . . . supposed to know you?" The girl shrugged. "I suppose not. I didn't expect you to recognise me. Not in this form. I haven't looked the way you remember me in over one hundred years. So confusion is, I suppose, acceptable."

Everyone's brows were creased with the above mentioned acceptable confusion. "Excuse me . . . but please explain what exactly is going on. I think most of us now are getting quite tired of surprises." Mina said politely, but there was an edge to her voice. Agent nodded. "Very well. Old League members, I'd like you to meet a long-lost member of yours." The blonde woman crossed her arms and grinned knowingly.

"I'd like you to meet Allana Quartermain. You knew her as Allan Quartermain. Obviously some things change over the years." Silence deadpanned across the room in response to this announcement. Finally Skinner, unable to control himself, blurted out, "Cor! You don't look half bad, Allan!"

This time the silence deadpanned for a different reason.

Allana sighed. "This might . . . take a while . . . Shah, order coffee. Or tea. Or whatever. I don't care."

Well, she was right on one account. It _was_ going to take a while . . .

**A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A**

But that doesn't mean that I don't love you! Sorry it took so long. I'd explain myself but I've noticed that excuses tend to p people off more than the actual fault, so I think I'll shut up now.

No wait, I've got to reply to reviews. Happiness!

**To LXGFangirl:** Aheh. Sorry it took so long. Flu is now gone! Yay! And, _yes,_ multiple Toms _do_ equal YAYness. And that's sorta what you're gonna get here . . . Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thank you for taking time out to review!

**To Shiva:** What an odd coincidence . . . I was thinking about having a character called Shiva . . . meh, never mind. Thank you for reviewing! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**To Sawyer Fan:** Well, well . . . hello again! I don't even know what ornery is, but I'll take it as a complement. No, hang on, I've got a dictionary.

Oh!

It means exactly what I thought it meant! Cool! Yes . . . I like bouncing off the different accents. I've got a thousand voices in my head, but I think Skinner's is one of my favourites. Hope you liked this chapter! Please don't use 100 dollarwords anymore! I'm not as clever as my parent's think I am . . . I'd be nothing without my thesaurus/dictionary . . . no, just kidding. Anyway. Happy reading, person with a cool name!

**To Jordie78:** Wow, people love me. Thank goodness they've never met me. Aheh. Anyway, thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked my Nemo thing, I was hoping somebody would. Heh heh heh . . . I'm going to have much fun with the League members. The more dignity they have, the more fun it is to see them slip up on a banana skin . . . or whatever. Thank you for reviewing! Hope you liked the chapter! Bye bye.

**To Riserugu:** Hello again. Aww . . . are you sick? That's rough . . . here, have a cookie. And try some hot ribena/ hot blackcurrant drink . . . it did wonders for me. Seriously. It's like the nectar of Gods–on–Earth. And, NO. _Don't_ change your power. Trust me, for what my brother and I have in mind, it is _completely_ **_perfect . . ._** Hope you feel way better soon! Also hoped you liked this chapter! Drink lots of fluids and sleep a lot and take a shower when you can. It really does make all the difference when you feel like sh#t. Thanks for reviewing before collapsing! Nitey-nite. Nite nite. Nite.


	4. Heaven Preserves

**The League of the Extraordinary: Chapter Three**

**Heaven Preserves**

"Ah'm afraid ah don't quite understand."

Allana Quartermain looked up from where she was sitting. "If it makes you feel any better, you can call me Allan?" she offered. Tom shrugged. Didn't make much difference to him. For all appearances, he as good as flirted with his ex-mentor. That alone was enough to warp the old school Missouri boy's head a little bit; not to mention the fact that he had just buried the guy only about a month ago. Sorta. Nah, who the hell was he kidding? "Time travel and reincarnation? Sounds a lil' crazy in the head t'me." Then he realised he said that out load.

Aren't cute American Secret Agents _cute_ when they're sweating?

"Uh . . . didn't mean nuthin' by that. I jus' . . ." Mina shook her head. "No, it's quite alright. I feel compelled to agree with you. It _is_ a little out of our league." She paused. "No pun intended." She added weakly, and sipped her tea. Nemo straightened his back even further and looked across the table at all the League members – past and present. "I would like to know everything I can. I do not particularly care about the time travel, not for the moment." He turned his head to Quartermain. "I would, instead, like to know about you." Allan shrugged and half-smiled in a very weary fashion. "Well, you know us old tigers, Captain. Won't go down without a fight." Nemo smiled with Allana at the private joke.

"But – ah, seriously." Allana stretched her arms above her head and yawned. "You wish to know? Very well. I'm afraid I don't quite know what happened exactly – seeing as I was rather dead at the time – but my guess is that my old friends in Africa were right. The country would not let me die. But as my body was already wasted . . . I mean, it _had_ just travelled from Mongolia . . . or, wherever, they had to find an alternative. So . . . they popped me into another body."

"Popped?" exclaimed Mina in a rather quiet, yet nonetheless incredulous voice. "Pray tell Madame, find me a better word." Glared Allana. She sat back. "So . . . anyway. That's about it. Africa hasn't let me die since 1899. And it has by now by far become apparent that neither Africa, nor Germany, nor France, nor New Zealand, _nor_ China . . ." she took a breath. " . . . will let me die." Again she stretched. "You're just bloody lucky I'm reacquainting myself with my English roots." Silence met this rather short speech, as it has and will for many short and long speeches to come. Agent cleared her throat. "Any questions?"

"Yeah," Tom leaned forward. "What happened t'us? To the League, ah mean." Agent's head cocked slowly to the side as though contemplating the question. "I suppose I should have expected that one," she mulled aloud. "Well, long story short. News of the League caught the attention of Europe and of America. Many countries jumped at the chance to fund an unusual group such as ourselves; to have their names plastered all over a worldwide public-friendly organisation has its benefits for business, I suppose." She sat back in her seat.

"The government began recruiting new members. There were not many members to find, you must understand. Not that many Hydes in the world, nor that many Vampires either. There was huge scandal at the time. People everywhere pretending they had 'extraordinary' talents. And not everyone accepted the idea of super powered monsters guarding their home at night. So the world was in chaos for a time." "What else is new?" grunted Allana dryly. Agent shot her a look and the other waved a hand in apology.

"The government –" she continued. "I'm sorry, I'm speaking about the English government. The government tried their best to reinstall order but by that time the events had escalated and they decided to quit the project for a few months – or years, depending. But, unfortunately, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen could not be shoved under the bed or into a corner. Odd things began to happen."

"What sort of odd things?" questioned Doctor Jekyll. Agent turned to him. "The emergence of a new generation of extraordinary gentlemen . . . and ladies." The entirety of the Old League simultaneously leaned forward without realising it. "How do you mean?" Nemo asked, curiosity warping his deep tones. Agent shrugged. "Abnormalities, I suppose, in the refugees M had captured." "M!" exclaimed Tom. "But ah . . . ah shot him! Ah saw him go down!" Allana nodded. "Yes, I know. But you see, the damage had already been done."

"How do you mean?" repeated the Captain. Skinner looked to his right when he noticed the Little Ghost Girl, Ellen, visibly stiffen. He saw the Commander – Shah? Was it? – lay a hand on her arm, and nod to her. Skinner was curious about this, but opted to ask questions later (Besides, if you waited long enough, someone else would ask the question, and you would completely spared the bother). "To prove that a theory is correct, one must first test it." Continued Agent, oblivious to the discomfort the conversation was creating to the much younger members. "M needed test subjects to see if the various concoctions worked. The captured families of the scientists were readily available. Two and two, Gentlemen and Ladies. You work it out."

"So, you're saying," Doctor Jekyll seemed horrified. "That our evils were transferred to the innocent hostages?" Agent nodded. "Yes, but not all of them." She added. "Those that were infected with your potion, Doctor, died shortly after our rescuing them. It seems as though there were some serious defaults with the chemicals the scientists produced and how it reacted with the body's system. Skinner, your invisibility had varied results, I'll go over that later. No vampires were made, thankfully. The Nautilus' secrets remained so, unfortunately word got out and many governments have made their own 'submarines.'"

"None hold a torch to the Nautilus Five, though." Commander Shah interjected with a smug smile. "She has equipment and advances most backward countries haven't even the imaginative capacity to dream about." Captain Nemo turned to him, curious. "He'll give you a test run later, sir." Promised Tom – Mina's son, not Sawyer. Shah glanced at him with a frustrated expression, and Revamp shrugged. Nemo turned back to Agent. If it was _his_ ship, he wouldn't have let someone tell _him_ what to do. It seemed as though the future generations might be slightly lacking . . . He opened his mouth to ask a question – and was suddenly stopped short as the sound of an explosion rippled throughout the Lady. The floor juddered and everyone looked up and around to see where it had come from.

"What the Hell –"

"What the _bloody_ Hell –"

"Please, gentlemen, none of that, not again . . ." Mina sighed, standing up and brushing down her dress. "Agent? That is your name? Excellent. I would appreciate if you could explain to us where the explosion originated. And, perhaps, to assure us that there will be no more explosions from this moment onward. I am sick to death of being thrown from my feet to the ground."

"Sick to _bloody_ death –"

"Skinner? Shut up."

By this time, Agent had moved to the door and was gesturing for everyone to follow her. "It is most likely Jekyll. He's always causing disturbances whenever we land. It's the only time he can mix his potions." Doctor Jekyll swallowed. "J-Jekyll? Is he a descendant? Does this mean we – I – have a descendant?" Agent shrugged. "By way of elixir, yes. But it is unknown as to whether or not you have any actual biological children. We're still doing research." She led them through the corridors of the Nautilus Five as she was speaking. "I do hope you're not offended, Henry. We called him Jekyll in memory of you." The Doctor noticed that thin smoke was trailing from a door ahead of them. "Err . . . Ms. Agent . . . ?" He pointed. She looked. She winced. She shook her head. And then she banged on the door and yelled.

"_Hank! What have I said about blowing things up!"_ Agent kicked the door open and smoke plummeted through the opening. The onlookers set about covering their mouths and coughing. "Dammit, Jekyll . . . are you all right?" Agent waved through the smoke. Then all held their breath as a slumping shadow lurched through the smoke. "Sorry. My bad." Answered the hiss of a voice. "I just wanted to see what happened when I mixed a six and a twelve with a thirteen." The smoke cleared and many of the Old League recoiled in horror at the sight of a reptile–like humanoid creature that stood before them.

"Apparently I grow scales."

The familiar silence overtook them all, and the New League Jekyll began to look a little uncomfortable. He shifted from one foot to the other, and then suddenly looked behind him. "Hey!" he exclaimed, and whirled around. "Check it! I've got a tail!" He tried to grab it and gave it a tug. "C'mon you guys, don't look at me like that! Reptilian qualities might come in use later on! And hey, who wouldn't want a tail? C'mon!" Revamp swallowed. "Uh, okay. Well . . . that's new. Uh . . . Agent? Don't get mad. You know you'll regret it later."

"I . . . know." Agent breathed in and out, very slowly. She turned around and faced the Old League. "Well, this is Jekyll, a.k.a. Henry MacDonald. His extraordinary ability is most to do with chemicals. He is descended from the scientists – or, was it the captive children of the scientist? Anyway, he is descended from the rescued people M captured. Throughout the years his family has been devoted to the sole and private study of your elixir, Doctor. In time they learned how to splice together altered chemicals to create diverse effects on the body and senses. For example . . . err, scales."

"But only when you mix a six and a twelve with thirteen." Added Hank.

"But only when you mix a six and a twelve with a thirteen." Repeated Agent. "There are nineteen potions in all, by the way."

"Nineteen potions?" Doctor Jekyll seemed astonished. "How on earth did one potion become nineteen?" Agent shook her head and raised a hand. "I'm sorry but no more questions for the moment. The League has work to do, and I'm afraid I've probably said too much already. You do realise this whole incident could result in the changing of our future?" Tom shook his head. "Hell, c'mon! You take us up on this . . . Nautilus Five, and you say you're from the future? Didn't you expect us to ask lots of questions?" The dark-haired woman didn't turn her head to him.

"Yes, of course. But unfortunately, we haven't all the time in the world. Work must be done. I'm sure we'll all be marginally finished by supper-time. Commander Shah? If Captain Nemo is willing, perhaps you would like to give him a tour of the Nautilus Five? The rest of you . . . well, mingle. I have private affairs to attend to. Good day." She strode off in the opposite direction and disappeared around a corner.

Shah frowned and turned back to the others. "Well, come along. Tom, I'll need your help for the seismic readings and the transmissions. Captain? If you'll just follow me. The rest of you do what you want. Hey, Goodson, be nice to Ellen. No flirting with the noobs." He added over his shoulder. Revamp and Nemo followed Shah back to the control room. "Urrm . . . so. Don't mind if Shah's a bit . . . uh, well, tight-assed. He's an all right bloke. Well, when he's not being tight-assed." Babbled Hank, a.k.a. new Jekyll, hurriedly trying to cover up the potential awkwardness that was threatening to settle over the group. Jeffrey, The Immortal Corpse, snickered. "And you'd know about him being tight-assed, wouldn't you . . ."

"What?"

"Nothing." Jeffrey shrugged and began to wander away. "See you lot at the dinner table. I'm due for a top up." And swinging his whiskey flask, he whistled as he walked down the corridor and through another door. Now all that were left were Doctor Jekyll, Tom, Mina, Skinner; and of the New League: Ellen (the Ghost Girl), Allana, and Hank. Almost immediately after the Immortal Corpse' departure, they each began to pair up into little groups – Allana told Tom to follow her down the firing range, Doctor Jekyll began to have a conversation with Henry MacDonald about the multiple elixirs, Skinner followed Ellen (for a good hour or so) trying to find out more about the invisibility and the New League and Mina went off by herself, trying to track down Agent.

Being inside the Nautilus Five though, and each distracted by their own muddled affairs, no-one noticed the distinct and sudden change in weather. No-one noticed how the winds leapt up and thrashed the surface of the water and how the air suddenly became heavier and colder. And certainly no-one noticed the chilling laughter that came from something not quite human.

For the Evil was watching them. And nothing could escape its gaze.

The Evil was watching them.

And fate was going exactly the way it planned . . .

**A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A **

Um, hi. #glances around sheepishly# Uh . . . this incredibly long delay shall NOT, I repeat, NOT be a common occurrence. I am really sorry. Not only are the Chapter Three's always a killer for me, I was away in London for a week (I live in Cork, so I was pretty far away from my computer), then straight after that I was in my Nan's apartment in Kerry for over a week (again, Kerry is about two hours away from Cork, or at least from where I live), so even though I was clos_er_ to my computer, I was still pretty far away. Then our electricity got shut off, the first time because Dad was doing some landscaping (we have a huge garden, about half an acre. We live in the country btw) and the dude he hired with the big JCB-digger-thing and I dunno, he dug where he shouldn't have dug and broke _something._ About a day after we got the something-or-other fixed, ESB called up and said they had to do some work on some phone line and stuff.

WELL GUESS WHAT, YOU STUPID PHONE COMPANY PEOPLE! I HAD WORK TO DO AS WELL! AAGGH!

And, yeah . . . sorry. I felt really guilty 'cause I hadn't posted anything in ages and I was afraid you guys would give up on me and stuff. So I was rushing and trying to do a good job at the same time and I haven't a clue if I actually came out with something legible or not. Anyway, it's a commonly known fact (at least to me) that my third chapters are always really hard to write and are probably boring. Beside, I figured this chapter as sort of a bridge between Chapter Two and Chapter Four. The foreword doesn't count. Forewords and prologues are so much fun! Everybody's like, grr, screw you, write more. Yeah. This is probably the only chapter that I feel I deserve any flaming, so if you wanna yell at me and stuff (just don't swear, it sorta just looks ridiculous down in writing when you're trying to be angry) go ahead and yell.

But wait! What's this! Read down after the review replies and you'll find an extra special _'I'm sorry'_ present, just for you guys. 'Cause honestly, I do love you people. You were the reason I got up at seven a.m. on a Saturday morning to beat my brother to the computer so I could finish and edit this chapter properly. Anyways, review reply time!

**To Ingra:** Time will tell, child. He may be Mina and Tom's kid . . . but then he would have been born over half a century ago, and if he only looks about nineteen or whatever, then how would that work out . . . ? Heheheheh . . . but that doesn't mean speculation isn't fun . . . isn't Mina/Tom just the cutest couple ever? Yeah . . . anyway, I'm glad you liked my story, and I hope that this chapter is okay. Sorry that it took so long, but if you scroll down a bit and read the _'I'm sorry'_ present, then maybe I could make up the long delay to you. Happy reading! (I hope . . .)

**To Sawyer Fan:** I like you. I like you a lot. I like you _thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis_ much. Maybe more. I dunno, I'm pretty whacked. It's probably more. And, eek! I know! Allan Allana Tom's cute little head in a whirl. Aww! And I can't find the Magnificent Seven fanfic! Which one is it? Is it called 'Magnificent Seven'? I wanna read about Tom! Toooooooommmmmmm! Ahem.

Sorry about the delay . . . my excuses (they're all true!) are outlined above. Please scroll down to the end of the page for a special treat: The _'I'm sorry'_ present! Hope this chapter was more than just inconsequential babble; please don't be mad, blah, blah, blah, everybody knows the drill. Now scroll down for your present. '_Oh, happy days . . .'_

**To Caiden McBrien:** Hey, you called me a button head! That's new . . . I'm gonna get a t-shirt saying: _'I'm a button head.'_ Yeah. Um, anyway, sorry for the delay. No, seriously. As I said above, scroll down for the special _'I'm sorry'_ present. You won't regret it! Thanks for reviewing, hope this chapter wasn't too bad! LoL, pet.

**To Jordie78:** Hey, I like you too. There seems to be a lot of nice people around. Glad you liked my Allana twist. Hey, c'mon! Who of you out there saw THAT one coming? C'mon! And heeeeeeeeeere's your Jekyll heir, aptly called Jekyll. I didn't have much time to broaden the horizons of any of the characters, but don't worry, we're gonna have a party soon . . . now, look below to receive the specially tailored _'I'm sorry'_ present. Enjoy!

**The _'I'm sorry'_ present:**

For the next few chapters, _you_ decide what happens.

That's right. You.

In reconciliation of my unforgivably long delay, I am handing the fanfic (or at least a reasonable slice of the fanfic, I still have a plot going on) over to you guys. So . . .

Who's past do you want me to unravel first? Which character (New and Old League) would you like to see expanded first? Do you want to see scenes of conflict between certain characters, i.e. The Commander and the Captain etc? Who do you want to see? What do you want expanded? What do you want? I can promise almost 100 that I can fit almost any scene/character/whatever into my plot. Almost. Please keep in mind that I do have a baseline of what's going to happen, and also, that this computer is in use of my entire family. So no requests for erotic scenes. Oh, I love that word. Erotic. It sounds like fruit. Hi there, can I have half a pound of erotic . . . ? Uhheheheh . . . anyway. I think you kinda get the message by now. So review and tell me what you want.

Because for now, the world is yours. Enjoy the power of controlling destiny. I sure as hell know I am. Review babes, and make the universe your oyster! Wheeeee . . . !

Xx Hatheny


	5. Cannonball

**The League of the Extraordinary: Chapter Four**

**Cannonball**

"Twenty-Three degrees, north. Seventy-five, aquatic ratings off."

"Aye."

"Set course for midlands Atlantis II, time: twelve hours."

"Yessir."

"Take five." Commander Shah stretched and smiled a private smile. Gods, he loved the sea. It was so quiet, all the time. Sounds were muffled, surreal. A whole kingdom, at his beck and call. Those land kitties didn't know what they were missing out on. And now. To more pressing matters at hand. "Captain Nemo? What do you think of the Nautilus Five?" He looked down at the man that was apparently his ancestor as the Captain walked slowly up and down the control room, arms traditionally folded behind his back. Nemo inhaled deeply. "Most impressive, I suppose. Very modern." Shah could not help but to scoff. "Of course it's modern. This is 2005. Must we keep reminding you?" He felt a sharp stab in his lower back and caught Tom Harker glaring at him. _Behave,_ he mouthed to the dark haired boy. Shah gritted his teeth.

"My apologies."

"No offence was taken. I noticed earlier your display of complete disregard for another's dignity and common manners with the Lady Agent. It was only a matter of time before you dropped appearances in front of me." Nemo kept his back to Shah and continued to observe the panels that reflected highlighted numbers and symbols onto his dark face and beard. "Tell me, Commander, what makes you loathe her so?" And now he turned to the other man, and he took note of the guarded expression on his face. Shah straightened his back.

"That really is none of your business. Believe you me sir, it's really nothing you'd be particularly interested in."

"Come now, no secrets in the sea."

"I beg to differ. Why is it you think we're all here? To escape, Captain. Everyone on this ship has secrets. Are you sure you wish to know them all?"

Captain Nemo walked closer until he was near the elevated section where Commander Shah was standing. Harker was observing their tennis match with uncertainty. "Few people would describe me as a man of knowledge, Commander; many, many more would prefer to describe me as a pirate. But pirates seek treasure, and my treasure is knowledge. I am standing on a ship that is from over one hundred years into the future. Secrets are powerful things, sir. But the only secrets that I would wish to keep that way are my own." Shah cut into him.

"Then, perhaps we may understand each other."

Nemo paused, regarded the younger man, and then nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, perhaps."

_**AAAA**_

_Stones taught me to fly  
Love taught me to lie  
Life taught me to die  
So it's not hard to fall  
When you float like a cannonball_

Ahh. Whiskey. Jeffrey loved whiskey. He really did. Something to do with his Irish roots. He grew up in Sydney, you see, but his ancestors were Irish. Something about Botany Bay. Dunno. Anyway, where was he? Ahh, yes. He loved whiskey.

Too bad his bloody stores were depleted after Agent ransacked his room. You come home from a mission drunk _once_, and this is what you got, eh? Sure, he nearly got Ellen killed, but she could have ghosted through any trouble anyway. The inhumanity of it all. Bloody fruit juice. Just for that, he was going to spike her orange juice in the morning. Let her see things his way for once. Through a haze of vodka.

Ahh, vodka. Jeffrey loved vodka. He really did. Maybe he had a little – whatever country vodka represented – in him. Maybe. He was a living corpse, after all. An immortal corpse, that's what they called him. It's not like he really was a corpse. It was just a name. Bloody accurate name. Walking around with the immortal power in him. Cellular regeneration. Was that what Jekyll had said? Dunno. Cute kid. Bloody vodka. Sleepy . . .

"Aheh heh."

_Stones taught me to fly  
Love taught me to cry  
So come on courage!  
Teach me to be shy –_

"Turn that bloody thing off and get over here. You wanna chitty-chat, then say so. I don't like being spied on, and whenever I find the person doing the spying, they tend not to like it either." Jeffrey snorted at the empty room and took a swing of the bourbon bottle, finishing it off. Skinner fiddled with the dials of the radio for a few moments before taking a lucky guess and punching the right button. Jeffrey stared right through him – literally and figuratively. "Whaddaya want?" he grunted at the invisible man. "I don't take invasion of privacy lightly, you know." Skinner fidgeted for a moment, wondering how Jeffrey knew where to look and how he knew he was there in the first place. He asked these questions, and the other man snorted.

"Yeah, you messing with me? We've got a twelve year girly with the invisibility taped to and on and off switch in her brain. She doesn't even notice sometimes when she's invisible or not. Couple that with her ghosting power and you've got a problem when she's not concentrating. It's kind of important in this business to know who's in the room and who's not." He took a swig of the empty bottle, realised it was empty, and licked the edges. "Besides, you stink of greasepaint." He added.

"Oh."

"So, whaddaya want?"

"Nothing in particular. Just wondering and wandering about this grand ship. It's quite intriguing, actually." A seat cushion bent slightly to signify the weight of the invisible man as he sat down. "The whole bloody 'ship from the future' thing. Roight?"

"Yeh. Whatever. I've been in stranger situations." Jeffrey swung his arm and the empty bottle landed on his bed. He took a seat opposite Skinner and stared at the empty space.

"Like what?" asked the air.

"You wouldn't wanna know."

"Humour me. And give me some a'that drink while you're at it." The cushion's middle lifted up slightly and bare feet padded across to the drinks cabinet. A bottle floated through the air before turning upside down and draining liquid to his invisible mouth. "Gaaah . . . aheh, hey look! The date on this says: brewed in 1899! Bloody 'ell." Goodson smirked. "Yeh, alright. And I take it since you're here sniffing around my private drinks cabinet, you've given up on Ellen?"

"Is that her name? Yeh, she couldn't tell me anything 'bout the invisibility potion and her still being visible thing. I think I scared her a bit. She dropped through the floor after the first hour or so of me following her and I couldn't find her after that. I'll tell you what though –" The chair creaked quietly as he settled into it and the bottle flew through the air enthusiastically as he spoke. "I eventually found myself in the engine room – least, I think it was the engine room. Anyway, it was a bloody big room! There was this lady there . . ." The bottle glugged downwards and he gave an appreciative gasp after a few seconds. "Let me just say – cor, bloody 'ell! Agent didn't mention anything 'bout 'er."

Jeffrey shrugged and stretched his arms highabove his head. "Indian chick?" he asked.

"If by chick you mean girl, then yeh."

"You must mean the Silver Lady, then. Anita. She's not a member. I don't think she and Agent are on very good terms either."

"Do I want to know why she's called the Silver Lady?"

"No."

The bottle swung up for a few seconds and the liquid drained downwards. "Fair enough, then. It's none of my business."

The Immortal Corpse slumped back in his chair and yawned. "Yeah, well," he shrugged. "That's the problem with being invisible. Everything bloody _is_ your business."

Rodney Skinner contemplated this whilst slowly finishing off the rest of the bottle in silence.

_**AAA**_

"You still shoot like American." Allana smirked as the young man lowered his weapon, annoyed at the targets. "If you can't do it with one bullet, then don't do it at all."

"Ah guess it'd be disrespectful of me to say shut up, huh?"

Allana burst into laughter and patted his arm. "You'd be right. I've been around on this earth for over a century. I've picked up more than scars, you know. And you're wondering how I'm a woman now, aren't you?" Tom grinned sheepishly and the eyes poking out from under his fringe were curious. "Uh . . . well, yeah. Ah mean, if you ain't comfortable an' all that . . . talking 'bout it. Yuh know. Sorry."

"It's alright lad." Allana waved away his apology and indicated to the seating area. "We'll have a chat if you really need it. By the way, aren't I stunning? You're very attracted to me, aren't you?"

Tom began to panic slightly. "Uh. No. 'Cause . . . that back there? In the control room place? Ah didn't know, and – and – lordy." He shook his head. "Yer just having me on ain't ya?"

"Ah ah'm, yes suh." Allana grinned. "I guess I've changed a bit, through the ages. But still, back to the matter at hand. You have questions to ask. I'm sure that's all anyone's going to be doing for the next few days, answering and asking questions. It's the red tape and police inquisition all over again. Back to you now, lad."

Tom's brow furrowed. "Lad? That ain't fair, Allana. Technically ah'm older than you." The blonde young woman rolled her eyes. "If the world dithered on and on about the technicalities of life, then we'd never get anywhere. Just ask your bloody questions, boy. It's getting close to tea time."

"Uh, okay." Tom swallowed. "When you said that all those countries wouldn't die, what did you mean?" Allana cocked her head slowly to the side. "Well, what did it sound like? Whenever one body failed, the power of Africa's blessing brought me back. It's amazing that it still works."

"Yeah, but. What does that mean?" Tom frowned and leaned forward. "Ah, mean, really, what? Reincarnation?" The woman nodded. "Yes, I suppose that's what it is. I prefer not to question it. It's a rather useful thing to have. Although Jeffrey is still by a large margin by far more expendable than me. Cellular regeneration, you see. Shoot him a million times, cut off a limb, throw gasoline on him and light a match. Leave him for a few hours and he's as good as new." Tom's eyebrows rose sharply and he let out a low whistle, flopping back into his seat. "Yeah, that's gotta be handy." Allana nodded. "Yes, I suppose. Now, break's over, get back to the range. I didn't have enough time to coach you properly in 1899, but I'll be damned if I'm going to miss and opportunity like this one."

_**AAA**_

_Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu. Jupiter, Mars, Neptune. Names on paper and in the air._

_For I am the Goddess, servant of the Evil, and it is not only thee who has a gift. I watch you also. And you will fear me, as all do._

**Are you done**

_Almost. The wind feels cold, love._

In other realms, the gods conversed and mulled over the fate of the League. And how they would be the ones to end it.

Gods would be an over-statement in describing these beings. They were vain, many of them; higher life forms that had grown accustomed to higher ways. Many of them had talents; flashfire, forever ice; extraordinary talents all of them. But as was with most communities, they ruled under another. The Evil.

The Evil was a very strong being, whether it was male or female was unknown. There was even speculation as to whether or not it was originally human. The Evil cared not for these rumours. It also cared nothing for the name that they had given it. Evil. It was such a thing to live up to.

The Evil didn't do much. It didn't have to. Because evils were everywhere, wherever people created them. It was like the monsters under the bed. Evil was there because people created it. People created It.

It didn't know whether it was male or female to begin with. If it had been mortal previously, then it had forgotten. It did know that it wasn't the first evil. It woke up in this aura; the mantle and responsibility of Evil.

Evil.

Such a thing to live up to.

And now its gaze was on the League. Something echoed in its mind. _Unfinished business . . ._

It didn't know whether it was male or female, or even human to begin with. None of those things mattered, not really. What did matter was the League.

_He would crush and kill them all for what they had done to him!_

**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**

Et, voila. Chapter four. I know it's kinda short, sorry, but it's how the plot folds out in my head. I can't predict how short or long the chapters are going to be . . . thought I could, but I can't. Sorry for the delay, btw. Review time!

**To Caiden McBrien:** How was that for an Allan thingy? It's only the beginning; you know . . . I'm not done with him/her yet . . . thanks for saying my story was kewl! Hope you liked this story, and I'd like to remind you that the sorry present thing from last chapter is still open, so if there's anything else, please gimme a yell! Happy reading, hon.

**To WhisperElmwood:** I forgot to mention, I liked your name. Thanks for your review! Yeah, I got the comic books over in England after I wrote the first couple of chapters! Ooh, they so rock, but I think they changed . . . well, almost everything in the film to make it more 'family friendly', or something . . . I'm just glad they made Mina stronger in the film. In the comic book version she was all like, _'a gentleman's honour'_, every two seconds! What if a 'gentleman' didn't **have** any honour! Uhhh, sorry. But, yeah, weren't the comics kewl? And thanks for reviewing! I hope you liked this chapter and all the other chapters! If you've read the bottom of the last one you'll know about the present thing I've got going, so if you have a special request, please shout! Happy reading (and drawing, I saw your H/D pic . . . rrrawrr . . .)!

**To Sawyer Fan:** Ah, we meet again. Thank you for liking my sense of humour. I'm so underappreciated at home . . . oh, well. I've saved the fic onto my computer (I hope so, anyway. It took me ages to find the site), and ah'm gonna read it soon, yes-suh-ree-suh! Just have to find it amongst the clutter . . . and, uh . . . exactly HOW cute are we talking 'bout here? Gotta picture of the boys . . . ? Aheh. Heh. Sorry. Hope this chapter was okay, and if there's anything else you wanna know, just yell/review and I'll see what I can do! Later, hon!

**To Jordie78:** Okay, your review was one of my favourites. Such nice questions asked you did! You noticed so much, and brought up great points. I love it when I make people think. Hahaha. Ha. Well, I didn't go _too_ deeply into Shah and Nemo, and I didn't touch on Jekyll and . . . Jekyll at all because I felt I was crowding it a bit too much. But don't worry! I'm just expanding things. Can't reveal everything in the first few chapters, now can we? Where would the fic go? Hope this chapter did something for you, and if there's anything else you wanna know, just click the button. In fact, just click the button anyway. I like it when people click the button. Thank you so much for your review, it made me really happy. Happy reading, hon!

**To Ingra:** Hiya again! Hope you like this chapter! Sorry for the delay. The present from last chapter is still valid, so if there's anything you need, gimme a shout! Hope this chapter was okay! Thanks for your review! Nighty night, happy reading.

And there's the review count done. Gosh, I hope I got everybody, I'm kinda whacked. Review please, and make my day! If not, please send me coke. I need coke. Or a cookie. Cookies are nice. Review! Click the button, please! Nighty night.

Xx Hatheny


	6. Dancing Through a Riddle

_**Guess who just got back from Cyprus! Whoo-hoooooooooo! And etc . . .**_

**The League of the Extraordinary: Chapter Four**

**Dancing through a Riddle**

_Ask him_

I will in a minute, Edward.

_Ask him **now,** damn you!_

In a moment!

"Uh, Hank? Or do you prefer Doctor?" Doctor Jekyll cleared his throat. Hank grinned at him while he was restocking the shelves. "Nah, just Hank will do fine. Kinda weird that we have the same names, eh? Think it's coincidence or fate?" Jekyll swallowed.

"I . . . I'm not sure I believe in either. I prefer grounding facts, myself." Hank chuckled at that. "Yeh," he shook his head, carefully inserting colour coded potions into their proper containers. "And you're a living, breathing, walking tribute to cold hard facts then, eh?" The doctor turned away and began to examine the apparatus behind the glass doors.

_Ask him_

Not now!

_Damn you! Let me out! I'll ask him myself!_

Not now, Edward –

"You alright?" Jekyll felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see the concerned face of Hank staring back at him. He nodded and smiled at the other man and shook off the hand. But when he looked back at the glass, Edward was leering at him, teeth bared and threatening. He took a deep breath, and asked.

"The potions. I need to know about the potions." Hank nodded.

"Sure. But it won't help you with any inner turmoil, or anything. I've manufactured the potions so that they match my physiology. It'd be rather difficult for the potions to match up with the correct D.N.A. strands if it was someone else. So no point in borrowing any, Edward."

_I am most heartily disappointed._

Hyde, please. Not now.

_Shut up! Weak little man . . ._

I need to get you out of my head . . .

_**AAAA**_

"Mission Status?" Agent paused for a moment while her informative gave her the details over the private connection. Jotting down a few notes, she tore out the sheet and spoke a short affirmative before hanging up the phone. Staring at the scribbled words, Agent realised after a few moments that she wasn't seeing anything. Rubbing her eyes, she sighed and slumped forward on the table and rested her head on her arms. God. Such a predicament.

The Old League was back, with faces she would have preferred to see still buried. She had loved and lost and mourned and then gotten on with her life in that League, and dredging up near-forgotten past was just not fair. Oh well. She wasn't in this business for the personality of it.

So what had she gotten into it for?

Oh, that's right. She was bored. And compassionate, she supposed, for the humanity she had forcibly left behind. Was that a good combination, or an absolute possible worst? Hmm. It wasn't her job to psycho-analyse her past and psychology. That was for the other professionals. Doing so would only drive her mad, and that was the last thing she needed to do.

God.

Why was everything always so difficult in her life? Wasn't there a time when she was happy? Or was it mourning, always pain, with a brief interlude of joy? Such as when she had her first child. Her beautiful baby Thomas, named after his happy and strong-willed father. Then to lose both of her loves, one buried and the other . . . it hurt more, where Tommy was concerned. Because his father was dead, and she couldn't get him back. But her son was only a few doors away. And he could be a hundred thousand miles away for all she was concerned. God. Her beautiful baby boy. How did things get so out of hand?

No. Stop. Right. There. There is absolutely no reason as to why you should do this to yourself. Stop it. Just stop thinking about it. Right. Now.

Lifting her head up and pressing her fingers hard against her eyelids to stop the tears, Agent picked up the sheet up paper and scanned it for a second, going over the details. She'd need Jeffery for this. What else was new? And Ellie needed a little more training, but this sounded like a small case, so she could bring her along too. It was a weaponry haul – terrorist bombings. No-one died, but several injuries were sustained and there were people still trapped under wrecked. Standard issue cleanup. They've had these a million times. Too many times.

Agent really hated bombs.

Her chair scraping the floor as she pushed it away, Agent pressed the button that alerted members to the Control Room before walking through the door and slamming it behind her. Coming face to face with Anita Carmen. The Silver Lady. Her dark eyes examined Agent's face and her quite but firm voice spoke to her.

"Will you be requiring my assistance, Agent?" she asked, backing slightly; her right arm twisted behind her back to grab her left. The other woman shook her head. "It's just a cleanup. And technically you're not a member."

"I'm sure that hardly matters to the people who were bombed."

"It matters to me, and since I am the person in command, you shall not be attending any missions until you are cleared for membership."

Nita cocked her head slowly and thoughtfully. "Is this because of Shah and Revamp?" Agent, in the process of brushing past her, suddenly stopped stock still. She didn't look at Nita, but spoke quickly and brusquely and untruthfully.

"It has absolutely nothing to do with them. Don't be ridiculous."

"Can't you even say their names? Or are you that disgusted to abandon your own son?"

"I am not –"

"It's not like I could have stopped it."

"Just be quiet. Stop it!"

"You might as well accept it. There was no way either of us would have married. Why do you think we stole the Lady?"

"Shut up."

"I'll shut up if you give me membership. I won't breathe a word of it ever again." Nita's dark eyes challenged her. Agent paused, but didn't even consider it.

"Go to fucking hell."

Then she walked away and didn't look back.

_**AAAA**_

"I think you're shooting worse."

"Ah think I need a break."

"Nonsense. Shoot 'till you get better." Allana raised a can of coke at him to indicate that he should keep going. Sitting back in her chair, she sipped it leisurely while watching the young American make an evil face and turn away. Grinning to herself, she waited for him to load up and shoot so that she could criticise his shooting style again. It was so American and . . . old fashioned. Oh, wait. That's right, they were from 1899. Never mind.

A bell clanged throughout the room and Allana's coke spurted out her mouth in shock.

"Gaah!"

Oh, drat. She was wearing white. Damn, the bloody coke wouldn't come out for ages! Who invented that dratted, tasty, bubbly goodness anyway!

"What the hell is that for?" Tom looked around with shock at the sound of the noisy siren, his gun slack in his hands and his eyebrows high. Allana squeezed her top in irritation with her fingers. "It's a mission bell. Agent's got a job for us." She sighed and tossed the empty can over her shoulder where it clanged perfectly into the small bin. "Two points. Come on, let's go."

_**AAAA**_

"Et voila. Full mission critical." Revamp flipped through the notes leisurely and with much boredom. It's not like Agent allowed him on missions anyway. He was in full control of himself, but still she didn't trust him. Must have thought that she was the only one that could control it . . . it's not like he was fifteen anymore. She never trusted him . . . not with anything . . .

"Hey."

He looked up and smiled at Nasheem, who was looking rather worried. He patted the darker boys arm. "Don' worry about it. I'll just take care of the Lady and the other lady 'till you guys get back." Shah nodded, then glanced around, scoping the room. Although the bell had rung, the members were yet to answer. So far only they and Captain Nemo were prepared, the latter who was in the far corner, examining some piece of machinery. Shah let it slide for now. He turned back to Tom, who was still smiling patiently at him, brown eyes soft and bright.

Blast. Why did he have to be like this? It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble if he just –

leaned forward and opened his mouth slightly to say something. Tom leaned his head back to look at him better. And –

"Ex_cuse_ me."

What was the expression Tommy used? Oh, yes.

_Dang and** blast.**_

Commander Nasheem Shah leaned back and away from Tom, who was blushing when he saw his mother. The icy glower she was giving him was not helping matters.

"Good afternoon." He replied smoothly, stepping away from her son. The vicious look seemed glued to her face, and although her glare was icy, her eyes were fierce.

"So it would seem." She retorted. The pages she was carrying crashed to the table and a chair was pulled away from the edge, scraping painfully across the floor. Agent primly seated herself and began sorting through the pile; stacking and shuffling, each put away with an efficient and abrupt snap and flick. Tom swallowed.

"Uh . . ."

"Yo, what'd I miss?" Jeffrey sauntered into the room and plonked himself down on a chair, staring around at everyone. "Ooh, cold." He commented, grinning at the obvious tension between the three. "What's with the icy temperature? Somebody forget to turn on the heat? We're in Bermuda, lads . . ." His mouth suddenly formed a little 'o', and an even wider grin spread across his face. "Or maybe it was the heat in the first place that made everybody so damn frigid . . . hey, lovee, am I right?"

"Excuse me. What is going on?" Captain Nemo had been watching the exchanges with curiosity and now he had to know. When no-one answered, he repeated himself.

"What is going on?"

Shah glanced at him, his normally dark cheeks even darker with the blush that was spreading across his cheeks. The glance was angry, but the Captain could tell the anger was not directed at him. "As I said previously, _sir,_" he replied through gritted teeth. "Nothing you would be remotely interested in." Nemo raised an eyebrow. "That alone piques my interest, Commander. A forbidden thing is quite a treasure." "Do not speak to me of treasure." Shah's tone was abrupt. The Captain narrowed his eyes and tried to pinpoint the emotion behind the other man's words, looking for some sort of clue as to why the Commander would act so. There was sullenness and a great unhappiness surrounding this boy. The way he acted around the different members. A thing not unlike hate towards Agent; but deep caring for the Ghost Girl. The way he acted around the boy, Tommy. Was there a connection between mother, son and the Commander?

Nemo suddenly had a great urge to unlock the secrets of the Nautilus Five.

A great noise suddenly filled the room as the other members filed in. Allana and Tom, Jekyll and . . . Jekyll, the Ghost Girl Ellen – where was Skinner? Nemo was pushed roughly aside with a shove from nowhere.

"With all due respect Captain, shift yourself. The drinks cart is south-by-south-east. Or whatever."

Ah. There was Skinner.

Agent shoved her chair aside and began handing out the mission briefs to everyone – save of course, the old League members. Tom objected, but Agent stared him down. "This is a problem for the New League. Strictly, you are civilians with no authorisation. The League has a job to do, and I will brook no interference."

"Civilians! We're trained adults, lady! All due respect, but the League does have a job to do, and we're the ones to do it." Tom glared at the mission brief that she was holding and outstretched a hand. Agent did not give him it. "We have no time for petulancy or the children that wield it. Once everyone is clear on the strategy, we shall escort you back to the Nautilus Prime. From that moment onward, you are no longer our problem. Until that time however, sit down and shut up, River Rat."

Tom sat down and shut up, but not before a strong sulk spread across his tanned features. River Rat . . . feh.

"Alright everyone. It's just a short thing, nothing we haven't done before. Small homemade bombs, or at least they speculate to be homemade and small, in a remote village off the border of Mexico, several injuries sustained, no fatalities – yet. We need to get in there a.s.a.p. to prevent that happening. Recovery units – full sweep. Medical – break into two and scope the different areas. I want a clean no-nonsense . . . ." blah, blah, blah . . . The Old League members looked at each other in bewilderment, very much apart from the entire brief. Scanning the different faces of the new League, they saw a varied response to the information.

The Immortal Corpse had the page in the air and close to his face; a faux endeavour to mask each swig his took of his . . . 'medicine'. Ellen was chewing her lip anxiously, rocking slightly in her seat as though she were about to face an examination in math. Revamp was slumping back in his seat and his arms loose at his sides. He had a look of indifference and intense boredom, and he had begun to chew the edge of his paper. The only ones that seemed rapt in serious attention were Allana, Shah and Henry. Suddenly Tom's desire to join up in the mission deflated in a hurry. Everything sounded so damn complicated. He was never one for paperwork . . . he preferred action.

"Uh . . ."

"So is everyone clear?" Agent slashed his sentence in two. Mumbles from the New Leagues confirmed this. "Okay. I'll sort out teams in a moment." She then turned her massacre-like tone on the old members. "Someone will now escort you to your ship. This has been most pleasant. Forgive my abruptness, but I am under a fierce amount of stress from every corner and I really don't have the time for a field trip. Good day." She turned back to the others and heaved a sigh. "Any volunteers? No? Ellen, very good, thank you. Would you please escort the others to their ship so that we may conduct our mission?"

Startled, Ellen glanced around desperately for a few moments before admitting her defeat. Shoving away her chair, she timidly approached the Old League. "Um, just this way please?" The members followed her one by one, each taking one last look around the room from the future. Nemo was especially furious, but experience had taught him better than to confront a tiger in its own territory without a backup plan. They made their way up silently throughout the Nautilus Five and boarded the observation deck so as to reach the second ship. Each was mulling over their own experience of the future the League had, and each was wondering how on earth they could go back to their ordinary lives knowing their future . . . but what _had_ they really learned? There were a few extra potions, a new Nautilus . . . but what had happened to _them?_

Incidentally, Skinner was at the back of the group when they reached the deck, and thus the cause of various gasps of shock and disbelief coming from the other members was anonymous.

"Huh . . . ?"

There was nothing up front but a bunch of bodies he couldn't get through, so the source that caused the disbelieving faces was unknown. For the first time in his life, _Skinner_ was the one who couldn't see anything.

Aheh.

Now _there's_ irony for you.

Finally he could take it no more. "What is it! Let me the bloody hell through! Oi! Hey!" Elbowing the others quite painfully aside, he finally saw all. The sight was unbelievable. Impossible. No way in . . .

"_Where the bloody hell has the Nautilus gone?"_

For some reason, their ride was gone.

Now _that_ was a problem . . .

_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**_

Guess where I just got back from! Uh-huh! Cyprus! And I am proud to say I have absolutely no tan whatsoever! A personal best, if I may be so bold. And oh yeah, I got to go to Egypt as well! I saw the Sphinx and the Pyramids, and I actually got to go _into_ one of the Great Pyramids!

Anywho, this isn't a live journal, so I'd best just reply to your fab reviews. I can't apologise for the long delay . . . well, I could, but . . .

_**I was in Cyprus! Omigod! WHOOOOOOOOO!**_

Okay, done.

**To Sawyer Fan:** I only have one thing to say to you. Okay, two. First: Thanks for reviewing! Second: Give. Me. Pics. Of. Hot. Cowboys. That counts as one sentence; it's all fragmented, so it counts! Anyway, thanks again for reviewing and I hope you liked this chapter! Happy reading from the girl with _no tan!_ Ha! Ha ha ha ha! Ha! Happy!

**To Jordie78:** LoL! Wow, you reviews rock. They're always really long and not only does it make me _feel_ important, it makes me _look_ important! Nah, just kidding! I'm really, really glad you put that much thought into my story, it makes me feel happy that somebody out there _doesn't_ want to stamp out the creativity of youth . . . nyeh, sorry. I just finished up with some Oscar Wilde and I'm still a little distant from reality. Wait, when am I close to reality? Yeah, never mind. Ignore my rambling. I'm sure you already are. Anyway . . . And as for the Evil . . . omigod! You'll never guess! Or maybe you will, and you just won't know whether or not you're right . . . hahaha! My evil-ness triumphs! And there's a little Hyde for you . . . more on the way (presumably). I dunno why I'd forget about the technically-schizophrenic-but-technically-not guy! Glad you liked the chapter! And please, bring on the questions! If by now you don't know how much I like attention, then you'll never know. Happy reading! (btw, who's Dante again?)

**To Queerquail:** Thanks very much! I do hope you've enjoyed the chapters thus far, hon, and no worries, there's more to come! Happy reading!

And thus, I am done. And thus, my sore throat has escalated to the point where I can no longer open my mouth without severe pain. Hmm. Maybe this is one of the things I should go to the doctor for . . .

Nah! See ya'll later, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm off before my brother can do me serious harm to my various limbs for being on the computer for so long.

Aheh heh. Goddess out.

Xx Hatheny ****


	7. Make It So

**The League of the Extraordinary: Chapter Six**

**Make It So**

"How the _bloody hell_ can a _massive **submarine** disappear into thin air!"_ Agent was trying so hard to keep calm. To maintain an aloof composure in front of the others. To stay strong. To be the leader.

_But bloody mother of hell! This was too much!_ How the hell was she supposed to make things happen if nothing would go her way?

"Don't get mad at us." Objected Tom. "It's not _our_ fault that the Nautilus has gone missing." The rest of the Leaguers nodded in agreement. Agent very deliberately placed two hands on the table and inhaled deeply.

"Commander Shah? Place coordinates for the mission site. We shall attempt to amend this as we are travelling."

"What about the Nautilus!" exclaimed Captain Nemo. "I demand to know of its whereabouts!"

"In God's honest name, Captain, if we knew that do you think we would be having this conversation right now! Just, everyone . . . sit down, and no unnecessary speaking unless there is something valuable to say."

There was silence for a few moments as everyone struggled internally to find a solution. Finally Revamp cleared his throat.

"Uh . . . Agent, did you mention who would be going on this mission?"

"Everyone."

"What?"

"Don't question me! I say everyone, I mean everyone! Medical groups consist of Jekyll, Shah and Revamp, Search and Rescue, everyone else. Work in pairs. This excludes the Meds, as there are only three of you. Try and cover as much ground as possible. Commander, E.T.A.?"

"Two minutes twenty and counting."

"Good. I trust there are no questions?"

Tom raised his hand in a rather timid fashion, Agent's sudden brusqueness throwing him off guard. Agent inhaled a deep, shuddering breath. "There is absolutely no way in hell that any member of the old League is going on this mission. Ask me again, and I shall remove your trigger finger." Tom lowered his hand, hiding it behind his back. He needed that trigger finger.

"E.T.A.?"

"One minute fifty-five and counting."

"Is everyone ready?"

Various versions of 'yes' rang throughout the room. These included yuh-uh, yes, yep, and a rather slurred 'aye'. Goodness knows where that came from.

"Beautiful. At least one thing is going right. When splitting into divisions, maintain usual stance. Allana and I take south; Ellen and The Drunken Corpse take north. Are we clear? I'm already assuming the answer is yes."

"Twenty-three seconds."

"Boarding bay, everyone."

The various members dispersed with practiced efficiency; those that could only walk leapt through a door that was hidden behind the Old League (whom were roughly pushed aside). Ellen merely slid herself and Jeffrey through the floor. The old League were left quite alone.

Then – oh joy! –

"Screw this." Tom grabbed his gun and pushed his way through the door. Slowly, one-by-one, the members followed his lead. First was Nemo, then Mina, then lastly Skinner, who had to force Jekyll out of the room and through the doorway.

"I – I really don't think this is particularly safe . . ." protested the Doctor. Skinner snickered. "Comes with the territory, mate. Now come on. Can't miss all the fun, now can we?"

**AAAA**

Outside it was less traumatic than Agent had thought it would be. It was only apparently minor damage, the report of bombs widely exaggerated. A few houses were still smoking, but the villagers seemed to be doing a grand job of picking themselves up again. However, thick black smoke was still rolling into the sky a bit farther off, and it was clear that at least some serious damage had been done. The relief on the peoples faces when they saw the League was abundantly clear to that point. Immediately some of the elder villagers that were unharmed gathered round the League, pulling them into different directions with frantic movements and gestures.

"Aagh! Hell! We could have used Nita's linguistic skills for this!" exclaimed Jeffrey, waving his arms in the air to try and make a path for himself. Agent gritted her teeth and forced her way out of the desperate crowd. "Oh, bloody marry the girl, since your so in love with her, Goodson." She snapped. "Keep formation! Ellen, get yourself and Jeffrey over to that site where the smoke is thickest and see if there are any injuries. Pronto! Med team! Scope the area! C'mon! And – what the bloody hell d'you think you're doing!" Agent had caught sight of the Old League members as they filed out of the Nautilus as quickly as they could.

"I think it is quite clear as to what we are doing, Agent." Said Captain Nemo in a calm, powerful voice. "These people need help. And it doesn't matter what era one is from – you are member of the League under any circumstance."

Agent looked as though she were about to explode, cry with frustration, and scream, all at the same time. Finally she reigned herself. "Whatever. Fine. Fine! Everyone ignore me, I'm just the bloody authority! Just do whatever the hell you want! This is my mission and this is my team and godammit, if you get into trouble, sort yourselves out! Don't screw with my team, don't put them in jeopardy, and don't get in my way! Understood!"

They nodded in affirmative, then dispersed to do what they did best. Allana sidled up behind Agent. "Hey, sweet. What is wrong with you? Everyone's only trying to help." Agent shook, trying her hardest to regain composure. Allana frowned. "Don't even try that with me. We're friends, Mina. Could you act that way for once?" Agent gave her a sharp glance. "Don't call me that." She turned away angrily, but Allana grabbed her arm. "It's your name," the blonde insisted, tugging Agent to face her. "It's who you are." Agent shook her head. "I stopped being that person decades ago. I'm just Agent now. Agent Bloodlust." And she pulled her arms free from the others grasp and began hastily walking towards the disaster zone. Hysterical villagers immediately surrounded her, but Agent managed to deal with it all in her efficient, clipped manner. Allana watched it all rather sadly. Why did things have to escalate so far? Everyone used to smile, no matter what the problem . . . an incredibly loud boom suddenly interrupted her thoughts, and she clapped her hands to her ears in pain. With fright and equal pain the people threw themselves to the ground, yelling up to the heavens. The ground juddered with massive impact. Allana's eyes widened.

Another bomb!

Then – Ellen!

"Agent – where's Ellen!"

Both pairs of eyes widened in horror. **_Ellen!_** She was at the critical area with Jeffrey! In the centre of where the bomb took off! The two ran as fast as they could, shouting orders as they went. The villagers were milling about the place frantically, blocking the route to the explosion in their hurry to escape from it.

"Dammit! Allana, get in there! I'll try and deal with the people!" shouted Agent, waving her hands towards the smoke. Allana nodded in affirmative, and, hefting herself on top of a short house, she ran along the thick thatch like a rabbit. Shah had begun calming the people down, using their own language to do so, directing them to the farthest reaches of the village. They followed his orders reluctantly, taking long glances at their destroyed homes. Who had done this?

_If only you knew. You're so close I can taste your blood on the wind. Fear fear itself, for I am fear incarnate._

**AAAA**

Allana coughed through the smoke, whipping a cloth out of her pocket and holding it against her mouth. She needed to find Ellen. There was a small chance that the kid had already ghosted through danger, but she was only twelve and still behind training – therefore it was a greater chance that she was panicking. It's why they paired her off with Jeffrey all the time. He had this thing for stepping in the line of fire . . .

"Oh . . . God."

Speaking of Jeffrey . . . it looked as though he had endured some misadventures whilst operating in the previously mentioned line of fire. And, God – speaking of fire! What was probably a town hall was now a flaming death-trap of heat and collapsing timber.

"Shit . . . Jeff, wake up." She heaved the smouldering mass with much difficulty over her shoulder and winced as she felt the combined heat flash across her skin. Dimly she saw dark movement in the farthest reaches of the hall which was now no longer fit to be called a hall, but it was getting so hard to maintain focus. The heated air was frying her system, and was that a cry she heard or was that the oxygen burning itself out inside her ears . . . ?

Every second counted. Every split second. No hesitation. Hesitation got you killed. Act now. Don't risk losing another life.

Stumbling through the wreckage and wincing at the havoc the heat was causing her skin, she carefully picked her way through the fire, eventually drawing closer to the limp form that had collapsed from the intensifying heat. She saw with even more intense relief that it was the slightly singed form of the Ghost Girl.

"Thank God, oh thank God . . ." She sobbed, letting Jeffrey slide off her shoulders as she knelt beside the child. "Ellen? Ellen . . . wake up. Please be alive." The figure moaned a little and shrugged away the hands. Allana would have cried if there was only enough moisture in her body to support such an emotion.

"Ellen, honey . . . ?"

"Ellen! Oh thank God!" Outside the fire, Agent grabbed the young girl in a fierce, protective hug. "Thank God, oh thank God! How did you get out!" The twelve year old was shaking and tears stained sticky lines down her smoke tattooed face. "Agent, there's something in there."

"What?"

"It knocked down Jeffrey and fried him. The smoke was so thick, I couldn't find him, so I just slid through the ground and came back out to get help." Agent seemed frozen with bewilderment.

"But . . . what was it?" she asked, her eyes drifting from the younger girl to the flaming building that was collapsing into itself as they were speaking. Ellen began sobbing full out. "I don't know! I couldn't move! I couldn't see anything! It was too hot and I couldn't find Jeff and it was so hot and scary! It tried to flame me too! I could barely run . . . I'm sorry . . ." She sunk against Agent as her last words faded and just cried, overcome by the enormity of her fear. Agent seemed not to feel the girl, but automatically raised an arm around the child to stop her from falling. Her entire consciousness was focused on the blazing building that was quickly being eaten away by the treacherous flames.

"But . . . I sent Allana in after you . . ."

"Ellen . . . ?" Allana tried to flip the girl on her back to get a better look at her face. And suddenly, faster than lightning, the body flipped over by itself, snatching Allana's neck between two inhumanly strong hands and revealing a face that was not the face of the Ghost Girl. The heat seemed suddenly distant to Allana as her entire body froze over and as the slender hands clenched her windpipe in a vice-grip.

That . . . this wasn't Ellen . . . that wasn't Ellen's face! That face wasn't even human . . . twisted and blackened by hate – not smoke – it leered at her, and baring sharp, canine teeth it threatened the woman.

That face . . . wasn't human . . . it was . . . evil . . .

And she couldn't even move. She couldn't even lift her arms to fight off her attacker. Beside her Jeffrey lay smoking, and all around her the heat and the fire was becoming fiercer. She coughed for air but swallowed smoke and as she struggled for life she knew it was the one thing that had never been farthest away from her grasp than it was now. She didn't want to die here, in this place that seemed to mimic hell. Allana stared into the eyes of her murderer and saw that they were not eyes at all, but swirling, depthless black holes of fetid darkness. She began to feel herself slipping into that darkness, while the heat became distant and her heart began to ram itself against her chest and her lungs flailed desperately.

_And yet, you are only the first; the first of all._

**_But I don't want to die here!_**

_Yet, you are. And you are but the first . . . the first of all. Sleep well, Quartermain. Sweet dreams._

_**AAAA**_

Agent waited for hours outside the building, until it had collapsed into nothing but baked wood and ash. The hours passed, and when they finally began to shift through the wreckage, she identified the body of Allana Quartermain.

There was naught but tears and silence left for the League as they headed back to the Nautilus. The happiness of the villagers fell on deaf ears. Slowly but surely, they bundled themselves into their transport and home and when all was ready, they sunk gradually underneath the waves. They had saved lives, but lost everything, it seemed. And so there was naught but tears and silence left for the League.

_**AAAA**_

Nobody spoke. They had gathered around the remains of Allana which were swathed in cloth and settled in the deep freeze, where they would await burial in Africa. It had become tradition by now, burying Quartermain in his cherished land. The government had even sectioned off the plot and the locals had created a memorial. The cherished land and the cherished memory.

But life goes on. And somewhere, probably far away, the spirit of Allan Quartermain was once again being recycled. Agent pinched the bridge of her nose and drew in a long breath.

And it was their job to find it.

Unfortunately, the country, age and even gender were a mystery. But, ah well. It's not as if that's stopped them before. Life goes on.

"Alright everyone, smiles please. We'll probably see her soon. Or him, you never know." Agent cleared her throat and clapped her hands, the sound echoing around the room. Everyone jumped at the sound, shaken from their separate reveries. Tom (Sawyer) was in a state of shock however. The sight of seeing two Allan's die in such a short amount of time shook him. Wasn't he allowed to be close to anybody without them dying? First Huck, then Allan, twice. Life weren't fair sometimes . . . but the pressure of a hand on his arm drew him back into the light. Mina. She had a sad look in the eyes that openly appraised him, but before he could open his mouth, she shook her head, dropped her hand and gracefully walked out of the deep freeze room. Everyone else started pushing around him, muttering and yawning.

Life went on.

But it was still a while before he left Allana's side.

**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_**

Okay. Okay okay okay. Sorry. My excuse? I had the computer yeah, but I had just hit rock bottom. I had already written all that I had wanted to write for this chapter, but I felt that it wasn't long enough and I tried to add on more, but it wasn't working and . . . well; it sort of goes on like that. Also I was held up in concentrating for one of my chapters for my original work. I'm almost halfway through my novel! Yay!

But, back to the point. Meepers, sorry for the delay. At least, I think it was a delay. Wasn't it? I updated on the first, and it's over a week after . . . ugh, I dunno. Whatever.

PS, I made a mistake in the last chapter with the number of the chapter – it was meant to be five, but I think I put up four by mistake . . .

Review time! And yummy, what reviews . . .

**To Ingra:** So, you think you know what's going on between Tommy, Agent and Shah, hmm? Make a guess, make a guess, make a guess! And as for the 'changing the past thing' . . . well, it just wouldn't do if I gave you a straight answer! Just keep reading and find out, m'dear . . . mwha ha ha . . .

**To Jordie78:** I had a board meeting with the rest of my company, and it's official. You are now a super hero in the land of Dark Parody (my creation, it's copyrighted). Smile, you're a super hero! What would you like your powers to be? Just send forth any other details that you might want to include to my email, dear. Be honoured! We're operating under a whole new system which is very streamlined at the moment! Wah – haaay!

In other such unrelated items, thanks for your review, you're fabulous! I think you should know I actually printed out your review and it is now in my folder because I just loved it so much. Yes. I am weird like that. Okay. Yay! You're a Nemo fangirl! Yay! Your review was so big; it would take me another page to answer and react to each thing separately, but just know that you are wonderful. So . . . much . . . to . . . say! Okay, yes, Jekyll/Jekyll/Hyde is planned! I just don't know how soon I can fit it in, that's all . . . Um, The Silver Lady/Revamp/Agent/Commander Shah?

Oh, _wouldn't_ you like to know.

This little thing is my baby. If I could, I would write an entire separate fiction on this, just to get it perfect. That's how important it is to me. It mightn't seem big at first, but trust me, it's big. Underestimate no little thing! I'm throwing some of the best of me into this little section of the plot, so no crushing me when you get to it, got it? X3

YES! **YES! _YES! KUDOS FOREVER!_** Most definitely YES, Commander Shah's name came from the actor that played Captain Nemo in the film. **YES!** You have made me so happy! Anything you want, I shall give you. Just ask and you shall receive. I. Love. You. XXXXX3333

_ Granted, Mina's not always the most personable Leaguer, but what happened to turn her into someone like Agent? _

End quote. Mwha-ha-ha. If. Only. You. Knew. Mwha-hah-ha.

Yeah. River Rat. Heh. He's cute.

Thank you for telling me about Dante! And thus, your section of the review is done. Please re-read this so you don't forget how much I love you. Thanks! Happy reading and re-reading!

**To Sawyer Fan:** _ And Tom can't be Tommy's dad because it's the future..and techincally he's long dead. You had me going there with the Thomas thing. _ I seem to be repeating myself . . .

If. Only. You. Knew!

God, it's so much _fun_ knowing stuff other people don't know! Ha! Mwha-ha-ha! Nyhah!

_ And for Agent's comment to Tom about being a river rat...well, I'd have that sexy rat scurrying around my place anytime. The only way I'd use any traps was to catch and keep him! Bwahahahahaha! _ God, that is so true. Never a truer word spoken, as a matter of fact. Heyy, let's trap him behind the coach . . . nyha ha ha . . .

And, oh yeah, _speaking_ of sexy cowboys . . . oh my god! Talk about Magnificent Seven being THE sexiest cowboys this side of the earth! Wow, they are incredible! And I can't find your fic, what's it called? And where can I find DVD's of the Magnificent Seven? Yummy cowboys . . . drool . . . thank you for introducing me to them! Thaaaank yoooooouuuu!

_**AAAA**_

Voila, thus review time is completed. I actually really liked this chapter. I think it had a good tone . . . or whatever. Tune in next time for another jaw dropping chapter of the League of the Extraordinary! La la la . . .

Xx Hatheny -;-


	8. Respect and Reason

**The League of the Extraordinary**

**Respect and Reason**

It was kind of like . . .

Dunno.

Floating, I suppose.

_Tom!_

Huhm. That's not my name.

_How could you do this to me!_

_Tom, please, understand!_

_Understand! Ah never wanna understand you! Our son, Mina, our son! How could you!_

Oh, I get it. It's, like, the past.

_/Please God, don't let him leave me./ Tom, I didn't want him to die! Please, Tom!_

_He's better off dead than twisted!_

Where the bloody hell am I?

_Twisted . . . ? Do you think I'm twisted? You think I'm twisted . . ._

_No . . . Mina. No. F'r God's sake . . ._

_Apparently god has nothing to do with it! You called your son twisted! That must mean I'm twisted as well._

_You know f'r goddamn's sake that ain't true._

_He would have died without –_

_What, so he can live like you? Go 'round living like you? Thought you said you didn't want that – thought you said you didn't wish it on anybody._

_Stop that. Stop it! How the hell could I have trusted you!_

Where am I in this? I want to see me.

_Trusted me? What – ?_

_With everything, Tom! My heart, my soul, everything that I am! How could you!_

_Now hold up. Ah never –_

_Did you ever really love me?_

_I . . ._

_Or was it simply some childish infatuation, some weak little fetish to occupy yourself?_

_Mina, God no._

_Stop that. How can you not understand? How can you not understand!_

_Mina . . ._

_How could you!_

But I wasn't there. Bloody . . . hrmm. That's a very bright light. Bloody hell – this isn't hell, is it? Where am I?

**In between places. Sing goodnight Quartermain. As you made me scream years ago . . .**

**AAAA**

"We mourn the loss of Allana Quartermain. But life goes on. We still have a job to do; we still have a responsibility. There have been sightings of unusual occurrence in the western parts of Europe." Agent turned her head to the enlarged screen behind her so that the others couldn't see her tired eyes. She was shaken, but she had a job to do. She always had a job to do. Always had to be strong.

"Ms. Agent?" Ellen raised a hand, a worried expression crossing her face. "May I say something?" Agent looked back briefly and suddenly had an urge to refuse. The child looked so sad, like she was about to burst into tears. Agent swallowed. Well, it wouldn't do Ellie much good if she kept it all bottled up. Might as well let her cry now, get it over with . . . god, she was so _wrong_ for this type of life . . .

"Go on, Ellen."

"Um . . ." The twelve year old, already tall for her age, scooted her chair out and clambered to her feet, keeping her eyes fixed to the table.

"Um, I wanted . . . I just want to say . . . sorry, 'cause – I was there, and . . . I could have . . . done something . . ."

She didn't get any further as Shah had come up behind the girl and wrapped his arms around her, shielding her face while she cried. His face was taut, his eyes closed. The atmosphere in the room dropped another few knots. Everyone was so _sad . . ._

"Won't he . . . she, come back?" Mina's questions rang through the air like a scream in the darkness. The faces of the room turned to her but her face remained immaculate. "Well . . . won't he?"

Agent looked away, pretending to examine the map projected onto the wall. "Yes, he will. Somewhere, sometime. It's just that for some of us this is the first time she has been lost."

"So excuse us for being human." Shah's eyes had snapped open and although he hadn't moved he glared bitterly at Mina. She stared back, rather surprised that he would speak in such a way to her.

"Excuse me –"

"No, stop." Agent had turned around to face the room. She didn't look angry, just tired. "Just, stop. Both of you. We don't have time for this. We have to locate Allana and investigate a series of occurrences that have spread across Europe. We have a lot of work to do. And absolute concentration and cooperation is a _must._ Do I have your agreement, Commander?"

Shah unwound his arms from Ellie and pushed her slightly towards Tommy, who took over, before he straightened his back and looked Agent straight in the eye. "Yes." He answered. Agent nodded. "Captain Nemo," she continued. "May I count on your . . . cooperation as well?"

Nemo ducked his head gracefully in affirmative. "I really see no other option, Ms. Agent." He added along with his agreement. "My Lady is lost and my companions and I are trapped in this . . . timeline, shall we say. You may count on my support, nonetheless. No need at all to make this difficult for ourselves."

"No, wait. Hold up." Tom held up his palms in effort to slow down the conversation. "Jest hold on a minute. A couple of hours ago, you didn't want us near you. As far as you were concerned, we were annoying lil' bugs! What the hell changed!"

Agent fixed him with a very cold eye. "Allana Quartermain is dead, Mr. Sawyer. That is what changed. Now, can we count on the support of a single hot-headed yank, or am I going to have to call in a professional here?" Tom backed off, albeit not without a sulk crossing his features. "Yup," he replied. "But I want answers."

"I agree . . ." Nemo became head of the conversation once again as he stood up to Agent. "I want to know what happened to the Nautilus. I want to know how to get back to my own time. I am no longer eager to learn anything about this ship. I would like my own back."

"An' I wanna know who or what attacked the Corpse Guy." Added Tom.

"I want to know about the potions . . ." interjected Doctor Jekyll, clearing his throat. "Yes, I'm aware that you told me things about them already, but . . . well, I'd like to know more . . ."

Agent held up a hand before the questions overcame the meeting. "Stop! Just, stop. "I'll try and answer everything in due course, but for now we have a mission – in fact, several missions, to concentrate on."

"Not to mention looking out for the hideous creature that took dear Allana away from us." Everyone's heads snapped towards the door as a new figure unlatched itself from the darkness of the doorway. Agent gritted her teeth. "'Creature, Ms. Carmen?"

Tom looked to his side for a moment as he felt a little movement to his left. Shah had stiffened, but his expression had not changed, and Tommy . . . . whoa, freaky. Looked kinda like him . . . but why'd the two of them act weird when the Indian lady came in the room? He turned back to face the conversation after he realised the two boys were not about to give away any secrets to their behaviour.

Nita sauntered into the room with her trademark sanctimonious air and casually took a chair. "Oh, yes. Doctor Hank was probably waiting to tell you afterwards, but he examined Quartermain's remains."

"That rhymes." Said Skinner, but very, very quietly.

Agent took a seat and propped her elbows up on the table, curious despite herself. "And . . . ?" she prompted.

"Well, her body was quite charred –"

"Get on with it."

"She was strangled to death. There was a marking on her throat, a little red tattoo. Shah should recognise it." She looked straight at the Commander, who held her gaze. "The same mark was on the bodies of your sisters, wasn't it, Commander?"

"Conversation stop." Revamp stepped into what was steadily becoming a very confusing conversation for both parties. "Nita, just answer me one question." Interrupted Agent. "Can this wait?"

"No." This time the Silver Lady's face was completely taut with seriousness of her message. "Whatever hit off Allana and attacked our two other members was incredibly strong. That equals dangerous."

"How do we know it's strong?" asked Tom, reminding everyone that the Old League was still present. Nita turned to him. "The mark. It is a sign of a demon created by Evil."

"But what kind of evil?"

"No . . . you misunderstand. It is created by _Evil._" Her expression turned very grim and she stepped back so that she could face the room. "Evil is haunting our footsteps, ladies and gentlemen. And we can't fight back."

Agent leaned forward. "What do you mean? I've never heard of this . . . 'Evil' fellow before. And what do you mean we can't fight back?"

"We're the bloody League!" exclaimed Jeffrey, who was resting in a corner. His skin was still quite red from the fire, and he could hardly move with his flesh in such condition. But he still lurched forward to give his two cents. "We're the bloody League, Nita." He repeated. "We can defeat it! Come on, now. What's so different about this fellow?" Nita acknowledged this by curtly bowing her head in his direction. "A fair enough question. Because he's Evil. _Evil._ Evil exists everywhere. It is one of the most powerful things in all of humanity and beyond. It is the underlining for every single misdeed that occurs in this world. The root of all evil is Evil itself, and that is what's after us."

_**How true**_

**She's a smart one**

_**She'd better be we didn't pick her for nothing you know**_

**This had better work out**

_**Or what you'll kill me heh ha ha**_

"So what can we do?" asked Tom.

_**Nothing**_

"Nothing."

"Nothing!"

_**That's what she said wasn't it**_

"That's what I said, wasn't it?" Nita snapped. "The only thing we can do is to remain vigilant and not let our guard down. Whatever killed Allana will surely try to kill us. Eventually there is the hope that we may be able to track it down and – and . . .

**_Trap it in its lair_**

. . . trap it in it's lair."

_**There's a good girl**_

"How may you trap evil?" questioned Mina, her head cocking slowly like a curious cat.

"Light and dark are opposites, thus good and evil expel each other." replied Nita. "If Evil has evil intentions, then someone with _good_ intentions may be able to contain Evil or diminish its power long enough for us to gain the upper hand."

"And when do you suppose we will have to face this evil, Madame?" piped up Doctor Jekyll from the side. Nita turned her darkening eyes on him. "We already _have,"_ she answered. "Allana Quartermain is _dead,_ is she not?"

"For the love of any god, I think we've verified by now that Allana is dead, woman." Snapped Nasheem, glaring at Nita. Tommy was minding a very delicate Ghost Girl right beside him, and he did not appreciate the accent on the death of their close friend. "Just drop that and get on with your . . . effing story."

"It's not a story!" snapped Nita in return, banging her palm on the table and pushing back her chair. "My family have been researching the occurrence of the fiend Evil for centuries –"

"Most likely because they're the ones that probably invented it!"

In a split second Nita had crossed the distance between herself and the Commander and a deafening slap resounded within the walls of the room. Then there was silence, the amazed and slightly intimidated faces of the occupants uttering no sound. Shah's face was frozen in shock, staring at the furious woman in front of him and Nita was heaving her breaths, anger tainting her face.

"How dare you –"

"Stop making my life a living hell and then we'll talk." Interrupted Shah, his face dead and his eyes utterly calm. The red on the side of his cheek wouldn't fade for hours though . . .

"My family are respectable –"

"About as respectable as mine."

"Stop that! Stop it!"

"_You stop making my life a living bloody hell, and_ then_ we'll bloody talk."_ He growled in return.

_**Don't get angry**_

"I'm not going to get angry at you, Shah."

"How about I just not talk to you at all, and then we won't have anything to be angry about in the first place, eh?" Nasheem scraped back his chair and unwound his body from the seat. "I think we're done here. I really think we're done. I excuse myself." He left.

There was silence for a few moments while Nita collected herself before casting a glance around the room and then making her exit as well. Again there was silence for a few moments. Then Tom let out a low whistle. "Hell's Bells . . ." he murmured. Mina clicked her tongue at him. "For heaven's sake, Mister Sawyer, if you don't stop saying that then I shall simply have to do something about it!" Sawyer's eyes widened. Damn, everybody was on a tight string! Agent sighed.

"Alright, everyone. I think this meeting is officially adjourned. We'll continue this when we reach HQ and finally decide what the hell we're going to do about this whole thing."

"But what about the missions in Europe?" reminded Tommy. "We can't just –"

"No, but we can just let the secondary teams handle them. Right now, I think we're all a little frazzled. Revamp – uhm, Tommy. I'd like you to . . . would you mind talking to Commander Shah? If you don't mind. It's just you're . . . friends. And –"

"No, Mom. I wouldn't mind." Interrupted Tommy, scooting back his chair. "Ellie, you take care of Jeff, okay?" Ellen nodded and glance at the Corpse, who grimaced more than smiled back at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Drama Queen."

"Only when I'm sober." He shot back, wincing. "I'm sober now, somebody help!"

"Don't wave your arms in the air. You're immortal, not invulnerable." She tutted, moving closer. "Let's take you up to the infirmary where you belong . . ."

Agent turned away from the scene and caught Captain Nemo's eye. "If I may speak with you later? After dinner, sir?" she asked, stacking up her thin folders. He nodded in return and she crossed the room to exit through the door as the talk inside was becoming louder.

"Doctor MacDonald?" Jekyll caught the arm of the younger Jekyll. "If I may speak with you in a moment . . . ?" Henry turned to him. "Absolutely sir. I was hoping I would have a more intimate session with you."

"I do beg your pardon!"

"I'm currently brewing a new potion, a number twenty. Or, at least I hope it to be a twenty. The potion has DNA, you see, so . . . I apologise. I must have sounded a bit like Nasheem there. I didn't mean intimate as . . . I meant would you join me. For the brewing. Not for the . . . I mean, of course there won't be any of that . . . I mean. . ."

_Good God, _growled Edward._ There are two Jekyll's in the world. Perhaps you did have biological children . . . he seems about as pathetic as you._

"Shut up!" snapped the Doctor. MacDonald's eyebrows shot up. "Ah . . . I apologise. I didn't mean to annoy you. I just get nervous sometimes . . ."

"No! No! It's not you! It's . . . him." Jekyll put a hand to his temple to signify the inner voice of Edward.

_If I could come out, I would. Just to strangle you. Little worm._

"If I smacked you, would it hurt him as well?" offered Hank, very kindly. Henry smiled, grateful he understood. "Thank you, but no. I'd get hurt as well, and that would completely defeat the purpose of the whole thing." Hank nodded. "True. Very well, shall we go then? I would enjoy working with such an esteemed colleague of scientific history such as yourself." Jekyll smiled, amused with the younger man.

"If they teach you nothing else in the colleges of today, then it must be to flatter your superiors."

"Now who's the flatterer!"

"Ha!"

_Kindred spirits. Faugh!_

_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**_

Okay, I'm sorry. I had to stop there, 'cause if I didn't stop there, then I would never have stopped and thus this chapter would NEVER have gotten posted. And thus, my short, 8-page chapter continuation is complete.

I am so sorry! Would you believe me if I told you I was caught up in school and plus we're redoing our garden, and we have about an acre of garden, so that's a big-ass load of grass to mow . . . plus the flowers needed planting, the freaking huge stones in the backyard need shifting, the old grey gravel needed to be _pai-n-fu-l-ly_ scraped up (first with rakes, then with shovels) and THEN I had to put down new BROWN gravel. Where were my dad and my brother in all of this? Moving dirt, and making sure the workmen actually did their job and didn't leave too soon. Oh the freaking humanity. I'm surprised I don't have a flaking hernia after all that crap.

And THEN, as this is my personal problem page for a few more lines, we had to have the freakin' school journals in as well as our year's portfolio (I'm in transition year, "The in-between year of secondary school", and throughout the year we have to keep a colourful diary of the events that occurred in TY. For our portfolio, you take something from every class and put it in a decorated shoebox. Or any box. For Japanese I put in an origami swan made out of one of the worksheets! I think it was hiragana. Or something. I'm tired. Always tired.)

Anywho, I'm sosososososososososososo_sososososososososososo**sosososoosososososososoooooooooo**_ sorry.

Please accept my humblest apologies. Or any apology. Please. As a sorry, I'm going to try and scan in my pictures of the New League as soon as I can and tell you when they're up. It's on my deviantart page anyway. There's a link in my user page for the regular thing, but all I've got is poetry, prose, and one picture, so it's not very interesting. But anywho, check it out if you're interested. I'm pretty sure the link will work . . .

Anywho, review time. And boy do I feel mean about not posting up sooner! Everybody's probably forgotten what they've said, but here it goes anyway . . . (I think I'll just repost your reviews . . . that'll be easier on your memory, eh?)

**To Jordie78:** I'm in the middle of designing your character as we speak! As I type! Something!

"_On with the review. Poor Captain! Not only is he on a strange version of the Nautilus with no one telling him about it, his own Lady pulls a disappearing act! I'm glad the Old League took the case. Jekyll seemed rather reluctant, but, fortunately for him, it sounds like they need another doctor rather than Hyde right now." _

Heck yeah. I love those guys . . . Don't you just love those guys. They're so cool . . . /sigh/ I'm just a fangirl at heart, no matter how much I deny it . . .

"_Sheesh! Allana's got some guts, running into that building. I feel sorry for Jeffrey, regenerative capabilities or not. Getting knocked over and fried can NOT be a pleasant experience (especially when your flammable-alcohol content is high enough to merit the nickname "The Drunken Corpse"). At least he gave Ellen the time to get away, but...yeowch!"_

Yeah . . . gotta love the drunks. Their comical, stupefied antics serve happiness for many a wet afternoon and intensely bored children with unhappy backgrounds . . .

"_And yikes! What the heck was /that? The Evil? A minion? Gotta be pretty darn powerful for Quartermain to go down without a chance..."_

I think you just found out this chapter hon . . . hoped you liked it . . .

"_At least the thing attacked the people who could survive/ghost through/reincarnate their way out of danger, but I have a feeling that's not gonna happen all the time, eh? Tries to pull Nemo, Jekyll, and kin out of danger, but is stopped by stubbornness in one family, and a doctorly devotion to duty (plus one individual spoiling for a good fight) in the other Dang."_

I like you.

"_Oh, poor Tom (There's a lot of "poor so-and-so"s in this chapter). That's gotta be rough. He just buried Allan, and he loses him again. Plus, Agent's threatening to chop off his trigger finger. Well, shouldn't be /too/ hard to find Quartermain. He's just one of, oh, a couple billion people on Earth. Male, female, young, old, any nationality. It's gonna be fun tracking him down."_

Damn right. Just sit tight, babe. The ride is only just beginning . . .

"_The Silver Lady/Revamp/Agent/Shah thing's gotta be complex. So many references and hints (They /stole/ the Nautilus?)... more please! And don't worry. If the rest is as good as what we've gotten so far, I've got nothin' to complain about here."_

I like you.

So . . . what's your opinion on this little triangle? . . . I'm very interested to know . . .

"_Yes! I had a feeling the Commander shared a name with Mr. Shah for a reason. Awesome!"_

Yes! Awesome indeed! I like you a lot.

Anywho (it's my word for today); I hoped this chapter was okay, and believe you me; I'm probably more horrified at the lateness of it than you are . . . X3 hoo boy. Hoped you liked this chapter! Please review and tell me what you thought. Yell at me for keeping you waiting so long, if you like . . . I /probably/ deserve it . . . Happy reading!

**To Ingra:** Nice name. Did I say that already? Anyway.

"_That was a great part! But Agent is confusing me! At first she seemed friendly but now is acting weird nothing like the Mina we know! What happened to her? I wonder what Mina thinks of her future self and what the others think as well? Can't wait until we know more!"_

I am so grateful for you taking the time out to review and I'm really sorry it took so long. You asked about Mina, and don't worry, everything in this fic happens for a reason . . . nothing I do is random. You'll all be finding out what happened to Mina eventually . . . and what happens . . .

Happy reading!

**To Sawyer Fan:** I'm really starting to love you a lot. I checked out your fic, btw, but only the first chapter cause I got kinda confused . . . ; Definitely I must learn more about these sexy cowboys. Damn those two words go together _so_ nicely. Sexy. Cowboys.

One moment please.

Okay.

"_"Make it so, Number 1." Sorry. When I saw that title...that quote wouldn't leave my head."_

I actually have no idea why I give my chapters the titles they have. They sort of pop into my head, and then they stick and they won't go away . . . /sigh/

"_And poor Allana! I just know she'll/he'll be back, but like Agent said...as what? That was so sad, and Tom's staying behind a little longer was so sweet/sad."_

I know . . . I know. /sniffsniff/amazed at her own genius/ nah, just kidding. Thanks hon.

"_And this...evil...sure is that! Has to be Satan."_

Uh . . . no. Well, _yes,_ it is evil . . . but . . . heh heh . . . nah, the League're gonna _wish_ it was Satan, but it's not.

"_The Daddy thing...hm...now maybe this future Thomas is a descendant of League Tom? Or are we talking cloning here?"_

You'll never know! Or, maybe you will . . . depends on if you've guessed the correct answer. And no, not cloning exactly . . . it's a _form_ of cloning though . . . mwha ha ha ha.

"_I wish the show was on DVD, and there has been an effort to get it released, but nothing yet. If in America...it's on Showtime Extreme. I've heard it's on in England around 1 or 2 am on either Tues, Wed, or Thurs. I can't remember what day she said it was airing, or if it's only regional. There is a VHS available on Amazon but it's region one only. It's the two hour movie that started it."_

VHS! Get with the freaking century dude! Nah, just kidding. And yeah, okay, America and England . . . DUDE, NO! I LIVE IN IRELAND! NOOOO! Sweet cowboys . . . how I long for thee . . . guess I'm just gonna have to hunt for the movie and start from there . . . /sob/ oh the pain . . . oh the humanity . . .

"_And yes, there's some hot cowboys on there. Mine's the guy with the longer hair...Yehaw!"_

Yeah, he's sexy. Mmm . . . cowboys . . . leather . . . /dying over here, please call an ambulance/ X3

Anywho, I hoped this chapter was okay! Please forgive me for the unforgivably long delay, but, as you've read in my woes above, I've had woes. Feel free to yell at me in your review. If you do review. Yeah. Anywho, please don't stop reading! I'll do better! Hoped you enjoyed this chapter, happy reading hon.

**_AAAA_**

Anywho (god I hate that word by now), I'd best be off. I have math homework to do and another two chapters to choreograph. Please don't have given up on me! I'll be better about my updates, I promise! Anyway, I'll see you guy's next chapter.

Xx Hatheny -;-


	9. Default Reasoning

**The League of the Extraordinary: Chapter 8**

**Default Reasoning**

"I've tried so hard . . . yes, I know. But he won't listen to me. Yes, I know. I'll try harder. Daddy, I'll see you soon . . . Mama . . ."

**AAAA**

"So, any news on the Evil thing?" called Tommy across his shoulder. He was wringing out a cloth in the sink with freezing water as Shah reset the coordinates for Atlantis II. The other replied with a grunt, trying to concentrate on the symbols. Revamp climbed the stairs and slapped the damp cloth against Shah's sore cheek from behind.

"Eeeooww! What the _hell!"_

"If you don't put something on it, it'll take ages to heal. The swelling needs to go down. Oh my god, did you know you're bleeding!" Revamp's head ducked to peer at the tiny piercing below Shah's ear. "Damn, you're kidding me." He groaned, a dark hand reaching back.

"Ow, don't, you'll poke me in the eye. Hold still. When could you have gotten cut?"

"Sharp as a blade of grass, I swear Tommy. Nita's nails probably. Maybe she turned silver at the last minute. It better not scar, I've got enough of those already." He covered Tommy's pale hand with his own and pressed harder on the cloth against his cheek. "Just get a band-aid or something from Hank." Tommy swallowed. "It's only small. Look, it's already healing up."

"How can I look, it's right under my ear."

"Smartass."

"Yeah."

"I hope you two are playing nicely."

Both their heads flipped towards the door and two sets of eyes, one brown, one green, caught Nita leaning in the doorway.

"Go crawl back to the recesses of the engine room, harpie. I'm not interested in speaking with you." Snapped Shah.

"Even if it was to listen to my apology?"

Shah let out a short bark of laughter. "Good one! Unfortunately you have far too much to apologise for, and even if you could carry the weight of your karma, it's not as if you ever mean anything you say anyway."

"What about the Evil? Don't you believe me when I speak of that?"

"It's not _you_ I believe. I've seen the Evil. And I stand firm in _my_ _belief_ that it was your family's fault that it got out again."

Nita face hardened and grew dark. "Even if that _were_ true, it doesn't _matter_ who let it out. What matters is that we put it back where it came from." Tommy moved away from Shah, slipping his hand out from underneath the darker skin. "Shouldn't you be talking to Agent about this?" he asked, drying his hand on his black khakis. Nita shrugged. "She doesn't like me. Come on, you know she doesn't. She blames me for not having a bigger influence on Shah."

"Maybe you had too great an influence, Nita." Grunted Shah, turning his back on her in favour for the computers. Nita frowned.

"Just shut up. I've done nothing but try and help this mangled team out since I got here, and what have _I_ gotten out of it so far! Nada, zilch. You people don't appreciate me or what I do!"

"That's right; it's always about _you,_ Nita. What _you're_ going to get out of it. Never about the good of the team or helping people out. And you wonder why Agent doesn't let you on the team! You're a hazard! You'll pick the winning side, no matter what, and leave your team mates floundering. I don't even know why you're still here." Shah wasn't concentrating on the computer symbols anymore; everything within his vision was blurred. _Her_ family had let the Evil out because the Evil was stronger than the good magick that surrounded his home. But why? There was war on the border lands, and the magick was growing old. And the Carmen family were cowards.

"Just get out. Just go. You should have died with your family. I should have." Something odd struck him as he said this and he turned his head to Nita, who seemed suddenly very small when she looked up at him.

"Why . . . didn't we? Why didn't we die with them? Nita? Nita!" he yelled, but too late, she had already turned her back on him and ran out of the room. Nasheem was shocked – why hadn't he thought of that before? How did they survive when their families didn't? When their entire community didn't? What really happened . . . ?

"Shah? Uh . . . Nasheem, what were you guys talking about?"

Tommy.

Back to the present. The past happened, let's just forget it. He looked back at the confused boy behind him and smiled an apology. Switched the computers to standby and double checking the coordinates, Shah leaned foreword to continue his previous conversation with him.

_Think of the future._

_**AAAA**_

So much hurt, so little time.

"'Allo, allo, allo."

Ellie's bottom lip jutted out with irritation. Stupid invisible people. Always so . . . invisible. Or something. Oh, wait. That was her power too. Grr.

"Would you just leave me alone!" She cried out in desperation to the air. "I've got homework to do, and if you don't go away, then I'm gonna get Shah and he's gonna kick your ass!"

"Sweet mouth for a kid." Snickered Rodney.

"What_ever,_ perv. Just get lost." Huffing, Ellen turned upon her heel to the other direction and ended up crashing into the Invisible Man. She stamped her foot with intense annoyance. "Stop being stupid! Why are you always invisible! Turn back so I can see you, jerk!"

If the eyebrow had been visible, Ellen would have seen it slowly rise to a high arc above the equally invisible eye.

"What do you mean, _'turn back'_? I can't 'turn back'. If I could bloody well 'turn back', then I bloody well would! And I didn't even wanna talk to you; I was looking for the Indian chick."

The twelve year old wrinkled her nose. "Nita? Good luck with her. She's a meanie. She totally hates me 'cause Shah is nicer to me than her, but _maybe_ if she stopped being such a _humongous cow,_ then she wouldn't be in this mess."

Skinner immediately stopped trying to sneak past her without being caught. "What? What mess?" Ellen's eyebrows, very much visible, shot right up. "Omigod," she said, managing to unconsciously form a perfect hybrid between an American and English accent. "You don't know? How can you guys totally not know? You so are not _that_ dense, come on!" She was almost chocking with laughter at the hilarity of how Skinner didn't know whatever Skinner didn't know.

"Alroight . . . so, yeah, yeah, very funny, I'm dense, what the bloody hell am I supposed to know!"

Ellen merely bit down the laughter and chewed her lip, suddenly solemn. "Um, no. No way." She shook her head and then suddenly grew shorter as she sank through the floor. "It's neither of our business . . . ess. If you reeeally wanna talk to Nita though, she's usually in the engine room. Apparently the incredible noise is soothing or something. Good luck . . ." Quickly she slid out of view and a hand remained for a moment to wave farewell before it too slipped out of view.

Aheh. Interesting. So, there was a mess, eh? And it's like that immortal fella said . . . when you're invisible, everything bloody is your business.

Time for a spot of snooping. Hey, might as well do what he did best, seeing as it was practically all he _could_ do . . . aheh. Riot. Bloody riot.

_**AAAA**_

"_Thirty two degrees north, Alpha, do you copy?"_

"_I copy Gamma. Beta do you copy?"_

"_I copy Alpha. Zero-Ten, do you copy?"  
_

"_Everybody copies; you guys, let's just cut the formality shit and get on with our job. Maintain radio silence unless of emergency and stick to the plan. Unless you like your asses well-done to fried; 'cause that's how it's gonna be if the League officials catch wind that we screwed up."_

"_I hear they screwed up already – Allana Quartermain's dead."_

"_No kidding!"_

"_Maintain radio silence, dammit!"_

"_Hey Alpha, you liked her, didn't you?"_

"_I _said_ maintain radio silence, idiots. How the hell _you_ make it into the squad, _I'll_ never know."_

"_Ooh, touchy."_

"_He so liked her."_

"_What the hell is this, high-school! We have an abnormal radioactive leak from the middle of Missouri, which to my knowledge doesn't _have_ a power plant, and you guys are gossiping about who likes which girl!"_

"_You're only getting bitchy 'cause we're talking 'bout you . . ."  
_

"Radio. Silence. _Or I'll have you deported."_

"_Yessir. Shutting up sir."_

"_Maitain radio silence. We're going in."_

The twelve 'mini' LX agents surrounded the edges of the reported abnormality – although what passed for abnormality these days was pretty much normal depending on what side of town you were from. And in the old American town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, in was too small for anything but normal. Unfortunately, the League reporters received various phone calls and messages concerning the little town and the big problem that was erupting in the suburbs. Explosions and strange behaviour made the locals even more wary of the little townhouse – the caretaker, an elderly man whom everyone merely called Sid, disappeared and then reappeared a few days later, babbling about how the lights in the house wouldn't work and how it was dark all the time. There were already rumours concerning the Sawyer townhouse about ghosts and such, but none of the later generations believed anything. Now they had reasons to believe. Noises and screams were heard from inside the house, and eventually the people just snapped. Now it was the League's problem.

Alpha made various hand movements and the rest nodded and backed to the left and right to surround the building. A few more nods and they subtly entered the building. The team broke into two groups, one upstairs and one downstairs. Alpha stayed downstairs, meanwhile Zero-Ten, the senior, took the more dangerous upstairs. Alpha looked around while the team spread themselves out and double-checked the various rooms. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except for the closed blue calico curtains in the middle of the day. And the odd the cleanness of the place. Surely one old man, nearing his mid-nineties, couldn't possibly keep an entire house in pristine condition.

_skrrrkk "Alpha?"_

"_I copy, Zero-Ten, over."_

"_Get up here."_

Alpha did so, leaping up the stairs as quietly as he could. Waiting for him was Zero-Ten and the rest of the squadron.

"What's going on?" he asked, abandoning the radio. Zero-Ten jerked his head over to the open door of theend room. "It's torn up. Hate messages all across the room and the windows are broken."

"They looked fine from the outside."

"I know."

Alpha looked down to the end of the room. "Well, as long as they weren't sacrificing chickens . . ."

"Not chickens." Replied Zero-Ten, an incredibly grim look forming underneath his helmet. "There's blood on the sheets, and in the wash-basin."

"Blood?"

"Well it sure as hell weren't ketchup, Alf."

"All right. What do you think was the cause?"

_**Ohh, I know!**_

There was incredible clunking and crashing above and below them, and all of the squad reacted accordingly. Dropping into protective stances, each of them followed Zero-Ten to the downstairs, where the noise had finally stopped. There was no sign of the other half of the squadron. Alpha switched on his radio.

"_Beta? Beta, do you copy?"_

_Skkkkkrrrrrkkkkkk_

"_Beta!"_

_**Beta's not here right now, please leave a message after the death toll**_

"_Beta! Answer me, dammit!"_

There was the sound of something skittering across the wooden boards behind them and they all flipped their heads to the sound. Then something skittered in front of them. It became a tennis match of tension for the troupe. _"I say we pull out, Alpha."_ Suggested Zero-Ten, and by suggestion he meant _'Do it.'_

"_Negative! We can't leave them behind! Whatever the hell is going on here, we are not leaving men behind!"_

"_Are you going senile!"_ Zero-Ten snapped in return. _"Do you honestly think that this is something **we** can take care of by ourselves! There's a swimming pool of blood upstairs in a children's room, and if Beta's not answering, then obviously something must have happened to him and the rest of the squad!"_

"_We can't leave them behind!"_

"_What the hell is wrong with you!"_

_**I'll show you what's wrong, stupid human**_

_ssskkkkrrrkkkk_

Alpha's radio went haywire and everyone else winced at the feedback. Then his side armour exploded with a spray of red and a cry of pain.

"_Shhhhiiiiitttt!"_ screamed Zero, voicing what the others were thinking. _"What the **hell** is going on here!"_

**_I said I'll show you_**

Words began to scrawl themselves in the wooden walls, although instead of deep stereotypical slashes in the walls, the words formed themselves into neat, easily legible 'Lucida calligraphy' type handwriting. It was rather anti-climatic to the team considering the tension andthe odd noises. The words were scratched deep and as soon as they were written turned a deep red.

_**If you want to know where your friends are**_

Drip, drip, drip. The red in the letters began a slow descent along the wooden panels. The men felt their insides freeze. Blood was running down the walls.

_**Then bring me Sawyer**_

"_Sawyer?"_ voiced Alpha weakly, struggling to remain upright even with the help of two other men.

**_Not just any Sawyer. I want Tom Sawyer._**

"_Tom Sawyer's dead."_ Replied Zero, as if the writing could hear them. The blood dripped a few more millimetres.

_**Bring me Sawyer, or everyone dies. **_

"_Everyone dies . . ."_

_**Painfully. By my hand. And it will merely be the beginning. So bring me Sawyer, and then I shall consider short deaths. Goodnight, gentlemen. The beginning of a long night . . .**_

The blood froze in its tracks and waiting a millisecond longer to see if there was anything else the phantom hand wished to add to the note, the men bolted out of the house, wounded and terrified.

"_Call HQ!"_ screamed Zero. _"Anybody! Wounded man and phantom threat! Missing half our team! Somebody patch through to the League!"_

_**Exactly what I knew you would do . . .**_

_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**_

Okies, sorry if this was a short chapter (I can never tell), and sorry for the WOW long delay, but I've had a ton of school stuff to do and a ton of school stuff yet to do. Projects and such . . . sigh I don't know how long the chapters will take to post up – it's the end of the year, sort of, so there's a lot to prepare for the graduation mass and end-of-school projects and such. Although I have to say, my history project WAS pretty good . . . : ) Usually I'm not so good with projects . . . but hey, at least I got the subjects I wanted! Some people weren't so lucky . . . but anywho, I'm sorry for the delay. But school and my "book" have been taking up a lot of my time, so . . . yeah. I think you get it by NOW, right: )

Anywho, reviews!

**To Sawyer Fan:** _"Okay, you are really making it hard for me to guess what's going_ _on with the Tommy (who's my Daddy) deal! LOL. And where in the world is Allan at? I know I won't get any answers...yet. But if 1899 Sawyer is the Daddy, maybe that would explain Agent's coldness towards him because the Tom Allan is experiencing is obviously cheezing her off."_

Well . . . at least now you know . . . hope you liked it. And unfortunately I won't be divulging where Ms. Allana is . . . for the moment . . .

"_Sexy cowboys...heh, understand totally if you don't get the story. It's a sequel based off an episode. Yep, so far it's only on VHS. Don't know if it's airing in the Emerald Isle, so sorry no help in that dept. Sounds like you at least got to do some gawking. I wish I could share those sexy cowboys with you! I'll have to pop in my tapes I made of the show someday and do some gawking again! LOL"_

Sigh . . .THAT'S right . . .torture me . .. /sob/ heh heh.

"_Let's get some writing done and unwind some of this mystery!"_

Your wish is my command! Hope you liked this chapter and glad you liked the rest! Sorry again for the delay. T-T;

**To Jordie78:** Always, you bring me such joy. And hey, you've got a deviantArt account? Cool! Thanks for the watch!

"_So, Mina vamped Revamp? Not some other vampire, then? And Tom (original Leaguer Tom) got really irritated about that. Understandable. How exactly do you start a conversation like that? ("Hi, honey. I turned our son into a vampire. You don't mind, do you?") What happened to convince Mina that turning mini-Tom was the best choice? And Tom obviously didn't handle this well (who would?), but calling them "twisted" was a little harsh."_

Well . . . that WAS only a _snippet _of the past . . . so much has happened that we just haven't seen yet . . . wait, **_we!_** Ha ha ha ha ha!

"_So, Allan's made The Evil scream like a little girl before, eh? That complicates things. I don't remember any major villian screaming, and I've never read any Quartermain novels (though I have them. I'm working my way through The Divine Comedy first. For fun. Yes, I'm a nerd.) I suppose there were screaming henchmen, but I don't see many of them turning into The Evil."_

Yes, well . . . I'm sure we'll all find out eventually who it is . . . or, was. If only there was a smiley for evil! By the way, where can you get the novels? I've been looking through bookshops, but to no avail . . .

"_Oh! That was so touching! Poor Ellen, that's gotta be an awful feeling, knowing Allan(a) died trying to help her...and that's the second time Shah's stepped in to comfort her. Is it brotherly instinct (losing his sisters (to The Evil!) might bring that out), is it attraction, or is this simply his normal personality when he's not dealing with Agent? Or none of the above? Apparently, he is non-discrimatory in his hatred of Mina; one era's as bad as another." _

Attraction! What the hell! She's twelve! I'm not really sure, it's a bit of brotherly and it's a bit of his normal personality as well. He's kind of a complicated person – he was brought up to respect life, but I suppose losing family to something called The Evil might warp him a bit . . . like a said, he's complicated. Man I love that guy. If he wasn't fictional, then I'd marry him. /sigh/ And yes, to him, one Mina is too much. But WHY does he feel that way . . . hmm . . .

"_Okay, I'm getting the feeling that Revamp and Shah do not get along with Anita. One of many theories scrapped. Or am I wrong about Tommy? He stayed out of it until the Silver Lady figuratively went after the Commander. So, Revamp comes to Shah's defense..."_

Yes, yes he does. /smiiiiile/

"_Anita seems to know a lot. And she's being told a lot. Too much. By bad people. Is she aware of this? Either way, uh-oh."_

I concur. But what will be the results of her conscious/ unconscious actions . . . ?

"_Oh, ouch! Okay, slapping Shah is not the best way for her to convince me of her innocence right now. Granted, she was provoked, but still... I wanna know more!"_

Aaaaaand you will. Soon, hopefully. I think. /Mwha/

"_I've got another question for ya. Exactly how old were the new Leaguers when they were recruited? Ellen's currently twelve, which is rather young to fight, and Shah was old enough that apparently not many people knew about his sisters. For some reason, I always thought that Mina would collect the next generation Leaguers at a young age (dunno why. Maybe on the idea that growing up together would help them trust one another. And possibly reduce the odds of having a traitor). Just out of curiosity..."_

Oh, I am SO GLAD you asked! Ellen's been there since she was very, very young, possibly since she was three or four. Shah and Nita have been there since they were about eleven or twelve. Jeffrey's been there since his twenties and Henry MacDonald's been there since he was about sixteen I think. Tommy's been in the League since he was nineteen. Those are the basic ages I've laid out anyway. I don't know if some of the plot strings will work around it, but I think they will. Anyway, I hope that's answered your question!

"_Heehee, liked the bit with Jeff and Ellen. Ah! And I love the scene with Hank, Henry, and Hyde! Edward's got a point; are you /sure/ those two aren't related? It's adorable! Much to Hyde's disgust, I'm sure. Much more between these three, please! "_

If you insist!

"_You want my theory on this wickedly complex triangle you've created? Which one? I'd have a couple of pages if I wrote 'em all down. For (a short) example, Revamp's promise to take care of "the Lady and the lady" had me thinkin' Shah was interested in Anita. That version of the thoery is currently shattered into tiny pieces. However, Revamp may still have been referring to Nita; just cause Shah doesn't get along with her doesn't make her unimportant to whatever's going on. Alternatively, it could be Ellen. Shah is certainly sweet enough to her. I don't think it's Agent, but it could be someone we haven't met yet, as well."_

Please send me the rest of your theories! They sound quite interesting! Please send me them, I want to see how close you've come to the truth . . . !

"_Also, you're dropping enough hints to suggest that Shah and Tommy are rather...close, shall we say? I'm not buying it just yet. Maybe later, but not just yet. There's Revamp's "lady" comment that I mentioned earlier, and the way Tommy responded when Shah leaned forward to tell him something (He leaned back, not forward, as I would have expected an interested individual to react), and the fact that it'd be a very obvious relationship. Does that make sense?"_

Hee hee, you noticed . . . yes, that makes some sense. Heh heh heh . . . I can't stop smiling . . . please send me your theories! Pwetty pwease!

Anyway, here's the latest instalment, I hope you've liked it! Sorry for the delays, and remember, SEND ME THE THEORIES, Jordie!

Over and out till next time,

Xx Hatheny


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